Latakia

Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to set up de-escalation zones in Syria for six months, negotiators for the three nations said in a joint statement on Sept. 15 after talks in Kazakhstan.
   
The zones will include, fully or partly, Eastern Ghouta, the provinces of Idlib, Homs, Latakia, Aleppo and Hama, according to the statement.

Turkey and Russia may assume monitoring role in a de-escalation zone in Syria's Idlib, Turkish Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has said. 

Turkey, Russia and Iran have been working on "logistics" in de-escalation zones in opposition-held areas, Kalın told reporters on late June 21. 

The governor's office in the southern province of Hatay denied reports on May 6 claiming that the Turkish army would be deployed to the opposition-held Syrian province of Idlib.      

A Syrian air force pilot who bailed out as his warplane crashed in Turkish territory last month has been arrested for allegedly engaging in "border violation" and "spying activities," following his treatment at a hospital in the border province of Hatay, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on April 7.

Two very important developments regarding the Syrian conflict: Russia signed an agreement that prolongs its presence in the country and increases its forces and its installations there and Turkey seems to accept for the first time Assad on power in a post-solution Syria.

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Russia plans to improve and expand its naval and air bases in Syria, Interfax news agency reported on Jan. 15, citing an unnamed source, as Moscow cements its presence in the Middle Eastern country, its only overseas military deployment. 

Michael Gurenkov / Flickr

BELGRADE - Rescue helicopters have discovered debris in the Black Sea from a Russian military transport plane which went off radar en route to Syria. Most of the passengers on the Tu-154 were members of the famous Alexandrov Ensemble army choir.

A Russian military plane crashed Dec. 25 in the Black Sea as it made its way to Syria with 91 people onboard, including musicians heading to celebrate the New Year with troops.

Kurtuluş Street (Herod Caddesi) in Antakya in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, a kind of shopping center for the rich in the ancient era known as the "world's first illuminated" street, is set to  come back to life nine-meters underground. The first traces of human settlement in Antakya date back to the Paleolithic Age.

A hospital in the Bayırbucak area of Syria's western province of Latakia has been providing health services inside a carved out hill after its previous locations on the ground were bombed three times in six months.