Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets in Idlib Friday, calling on neighboring Turkey to help prevent a regime assault on their region.
"We all came to protest to say that we will not back down and will not return to the era of [President] Bashar Assad," said Abdurazzaq Awwad, a father-of-one in Idlib city.
"We expect the Turks to stand by this people," said Awwad, 31.
"We are not happy at all that the fate of Idlib is being decided in Tehran," said Awwad, who sported a black beard and wore a white shirt.
"Idlib's fate should be decided by its people." Around him, protesters held up the three-star flag of the Syrian opposition. "Your plots and conferences mean nothing to us," read one sign.
Yussef Sadiq, 35, condemned the conference in Tehran as "Iran is part of the problem."
"Most Syrians hope that Turkey's efforts will succeed in stopping an assault against Idlib and in protecting its population," said the bespectacled young man, whose home city of Aleppo was retaken by regime forces in late 2016 after a crippling siege and deadly bombardment.
Demonstrators in the northwestern province also denounced the summit in Tehran.
Similar demonstrations were held in Idlib's towns of Khan Sheikhun and Jisr al-Shughur, as well as opposition-held areas in the neighboring provinces of Hama and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
