The Turkish government said it had attacked Syrian forces after five Turkish troops and three civilians were killed in Idlib.
Turkey says it has counterattacked military targets in Syria after Syrian government forces killed at least five Turkish soldiers and three civilians in the war-torn country’s Idlib region. did.
Seven Turkish soldiers were also injured in Syrian government shelling on the last rebel stronghold in Syria, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said the troops sent in for reinforcements came under fire despite being given advance notice of their coordinates. But Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, announced late Monday that Turkish troops had been shot overnight due to a lack of intelligence.
The development could further escalate tensions between Turkey and the Syrian government, as such direct clashes are rare. It could also cause friction between Moscow and Ankara, which has been trying to coordinate its actions in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters before leaving for Ukraine that Ankara’s response included fighter jets and artillery fire against military targets in Syria.
President Erdogan said between 30 and 35 Syrian soldiers were killed in the counterattack.
“Those who test Turkey’s resolve with such a dastardly attack will realize their mistake,” he said, adding that Ankara could not tolerate “a situation in which it is hampered” in its response to the Syrian attack. He added that the information had been conveyed to the Russian side.
“We cannot remain silent while our soldiers are being martyred,” President Erdoğan said.
He also said this at a press conference in Kiev. Nearly 1 million people were moving towards the Turkish border due to the Syrian government’s offensive on Idlib.
The exchange took place near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the British-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It added that Turkish forces shelled Syrian military positions in three provinces, killing eight people in Idlib province, three in Latakia province and two in Hama region.
However, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that government forces had captured two additional villages on the way to Saraqeb. He added that four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded while the Syrian army was pursuing the militants, prompting Turkish retaliation, but claimed there were no Syrian casualties.
Meanwhile, the Russian military, which controls the skies over Idlib province, said Turkish aircraft never entered Syrian airspace during Monday’s attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces were “in constant contact” with Turkish forces in Syria.
The incident comes a day after a large Turkish military force moved into the region amid a new Syrian government offensive backed by Russian warplanes, raising fears of a new refugee crisis.
The Turkish military convoy consisted of dozens of armored vehicles, fuel tankers, and flatbed trucks carrying tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Turkey has set up 12 military garrisons around Idlib in line with a 2018 agreement between Russia, Iran and Turkey on a de-escalation zone in the region.
exiled by violence
Idlib province is home to around 3 million people, many of whom were displaced from other parts of Syria due to previous violence.
According to the United Nations, around 390,000 people, mainly women and children, have fled their homes in northwestern Syria since December 1 last year.
Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees and is wary of a new influx.
The Syrian government and its main ally Russia say the military operation in Idlib is aimed at driving “terrorists” out of the region, in line with a 2018 de-escalation agreement.
Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda-linked militant group considered a “terrorist” organization by Russia and Turkey, controls much of Idlib.
Russia and Turkey cooperated late last year in establishing so-called safe zone borders in different areas of northeastern Syria following an operation against Kurdish fighters, which Ankara calls “terrorists.”
