SyriaTurkey Launches Attacks against Syria, Killing 35 Syrian Soldiers
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said that Turkish airstrikes in northwest Syria killed up to thirty-five Syrian soldiers. The Turkish strikes came in retaliation for airstrikes conducted by the Assad regime against Turkish troops deployed inside Syria in the Idlib province. The Assad regime has agreed to Turkish military operations on Syrian soil against the Syrian Kurds, but it is opposed to Turkey’s plan to settle one million Syrian Sunni refugees, now in tent cities in Turkey, in Idlib Province.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said that Turkish airstrikes in northwest Syria killed up to thirty-five Syrian soldiers. The Turkish strikes came in retaliation for shelling and airstrikes conducted by the Assad regime against Turkish troops deployed inside Syria in the Idlib province.
The Wall Street Journal reports that early Monday, four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine were wounded in intense shelling by Syrian regime forces. The Turkish Defense Ministry said that the Turkish airstrikes were launched immediately after the Syrian shelling. The Turkish Defense Ministry said that the Syrian regime’s shelling of the Turkish forces in Idlib took place despite prior notification of the coordinates of the Turkish forces deployed in the area.
Erdoğan said that Turkish F-16 fighter jets and howitzers carried out attacks against forty Syrian regime targets in Idlib. He added: “We made it clear that we are targeting the Syrian forces because it was them who attacked our Turkish soldiers. We cannot sit on our hands. And, as we speak, our air defenses and warplanes are carrying out their respective operations.”
Erdoğan also noted that Turkish officials had spoken with Russian military authorities about the situation in Idlib, and strongly advised the Russians to avoid confronting Turkish forces in the area. Turkey has established twelve observation posts in north Idlib as part of a deal signed between Turkey and Russia to prevent Assad regime attacks on Sunni civilians in Idlib.
The exchange of fire between Turkish and Syrian forces comes against the backdrop of a new Assad offensive in the country’s Idlib Province.
Regime forces captured the key town of Maaret al-Numan from the rebels last Wednesday, which forced the Turkish army to send reinforcements into the area to protect Turkish-backed rebels.
Idlib Province is the last remaining stronghold of rebel forces and is home to 3 million people, many of them Sunnis who escaped to Idlib from other parts of Syria during the 8-year long civil war. The United States has estimated that about 390,000 Sunni Syrians have moved to Idlib over the past two months — 315,000 in December and 75,000 in January.
