Mon 03 February 2020:
At least four Turkish soldiers were martyred and nine others injured in intense shelling by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in northwestern Syria on Monday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said the soldiers — who were sent as reinforcements to the region for the purpose of preventing conflicts in Idlib de-escalation zone — were attacked by the regime forces, although their locations were previously coordinated.
One of the injured soldiers is in critical condition, the statement said, adding the Turkish Armed Forces responded to the attacks and destroyed the targets.
Turkey deploys tanks to Syrian border
Turkey has deployed additional armed vehicles and soldiers to its border with Syria as an intensifying military push by Syrian government forces in the country’s last major rebel-held stronghold has prompted fears of a new refugee crisis.
Backed by Russian jets, the Syrian troops have recently made large advances in Idlib province during the deadly offensive that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee towards safer areas near the Turkish border, according to the United Nations.
The Syrian government’s campaign has shattered a fragile ceasefire that was brokered last month by Turkey and Russia, raising tensions between the two countries which back opposing sides in the conflict but have also coopoerated in attempts to find a solution to the almost nine-year-old war.
Turkish state media reported on Sunday that the deployment of tanks and other armoured vehicles to Reyhanli district of Hatay province was completed earlier in the day.
“Turkey would do what is necessary diplomatically or militarily in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib and keep the region stable,” Ahmet Berat Conkar, a member of the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Al Jazeera.
“Ankara would not hesitate to intervene if the Syrian government offensive turns into a catastrophe,” Conkar said.
“We need to protect our border against any kind of threat, particularly terrorism, and control it in case of a refugee flow against the backdrop of the attacks going on in Idlib.”
The UN said on Wednesday that almost 390,000 people – the vast majority of them women and children – had fled their homes in northwestern Syria since December 1.
Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees and is wary of a fresh influx.
Cease-fire violations
Located in the northwestern Syria, Idlib province is the stronghold of the opposition and anti-government armed groups since the outbreak of the civil war.
It is currently home to some four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces from throughout the war-weary country.
Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone, killing at least 1,300 civilians since the agreement.
In a fresh move, Turkey announced on Jan. 10 that a new cease-fire in Idlib would start just after midnight on Jan. 12. However, the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups continued their ground attacks.
More than 1.3 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks since the beginning of 2019.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.
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