TURKEY HITS 40 TARGETS IN SYRIA AFTER ITS MILITARY SHELLED IN IDLIB

Mon 03 February 2020:

From 30 to 35 Syrians were neutralized as a result, Erdogan said

ANKARA, Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets and artillery have carried out strikes against 40 targets in Syria’s Idlib in response to the shelling of its troops, which had killed four soldiers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters at a news conference in Ankara.

The ministry said its forces, who were sent in as reinforcements, came under fire despite advance notification of their coordinates. But Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said later on Monday the Turkish troops were shot overnight due to a lack of information.

The developments are likely to further increase tensions between Turkey and the Syrian government as such direct clashes have been rare. They could also cause friction between Moscow and Ankara, which have sought to coordinate their actions in Syria.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Ukraine, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara’s response involved fighter jets and artilllery fire against Syrian military targets.

Erdogan said the counterfire killed between 30 and 35 Syrian troops.

“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such vile attacks will understand their mistake,” he said, adding that Moscow was told that Ankara would not stand for any “situation where we are prevented” from responding to Syrian assaults.

“It is not possible for us to remain silent when our soldiers are being martyred,” Erdogan said.

However, Syria’s state news agency SANA said government forces captured two new villages on the way to Saraqeb. It added that as Syrian troops were chasing fighters, four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded triggering a Turkish retaliation – but it claimed there were no casualties among Syrian troops.

Meanwhile, the Russian military, which controls the airspace over Idlib province, said the Turkish aircraft never entered Syria’s airspace during Monday’s attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military remains in “constant contact” with Turkish counterparts in Syria.

The developments came a day after a large Turkish military convoy moved into the area amid a new Syrian government offensive backed by Russian jets that has raised the spectre of a new refugee crisis.

The Turkish military convoy consisted of dozens of armoured vehicles, fuel tanker trucks and flatbed trucks carrying tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

Turkey has set up 12 military posts around Idlib in line with a 2018 deal between Russia, Iran and Turkey for de-escalation zones in the region.

Idlib significance

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian airpower, have made rapid advances in the Idlib region, the last major opposition-held stronghold in Syria’s nearly nine-year war – which began after the Syrian regime’s brutal oppression of peaceful protests demanding reform and regime change.

The region is home to around three million people, half of whom have been evacuated by Assad’s forces from other parts of the country after the Syrian regime besieged whole cities which were controlled by the opposition and bombarded them with Russian airstrikes.

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