CORRECTED-Turkish President Erdogan says Syria's Idlib slowly disappearing

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that a de-escalation zone in Syria's embattled Idlib region is slowly disappearing because of military attacks by government forces.

Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan also said he would make all necessary contacts with parties in the region to find a solution to the Idlib situation, adding that a Syria safe zone which he has proposed to host Syrians fleeing the war is now nothing more than a name.

Idlib, in Syria's northwest corner, is the only big chunk of the country still in rebel hands after over eight years of war. A truce in early August collapsed three days in, after which the Russian-backed Syrian army pressed an offensive and gained ground against rebel forces, some of whom are backed by Turkey.