At least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Syria on Thursday (February 27th) in air strikes by the Damascus regime and its allies in the Idlib region. Ankara retaliated by targeting positions held by Bashar Al-Assad's troops. NATO, of which Turkey is a member, has condemned "The indiscriminate strikes of the Syrian regime and its Russian ally".
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu. He called Damascus and Moscow to "Stop their offensive", and "Urged all parties to de-escalate this dangerous situation and to avoid further aggravating the appalling humanitarian situation in the region".
"We support our NATO ally, Turkey, and continue to call for an immediate halt to this heinous offensive by the Assad regime, Russia and Iranian-backed forces"said a spokesman for the US State Department.
Thirty Turkish soldiers were also injured in air strikes – attributed to the Damascus regime -, which targeted this region of north-west Syria. The injured have been repatriated to their country for hospitalization, said Rahmi Dogan, the governor of the Turkish province of Hatay, bordering Syria.
The presidency announced that the Turkish army was bombing positions of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in retaliation for the deaths of its soldiers during the night of Thursday to Friday. "All known positions of the regime (Syrian) were taken under fire from our ground and air units ", Turkish director of communications Fahrettin Altun said in a statement. He also urged the international community, including Russia and Iran, sponsors of Damascus, to "Take responsibility" for "Put an end to the crimes against humanity committed by the regime".
Ditch between Ankara and Moscow
A new round of talks between Russians and Turks aimed at finding a solution to the Idlib crisis ended on Thursday in Ankara, without announcing a conclusive result.
Ankara’s heavy casualties on Thursday came after weeks of escalation in Idlib between Turkish and Bashar Al-Assad’s regime forces, who clashed repeatedly. These deadly bombings, which bring to at least 53 the number of Turkish soldiers killed in Idlib in February, also risk widening a gap between Ankara and Moscow, the main supporter of the Syrian regime.
With support from the Russian air force, Damascus launched an offensive in December 2019 to retake Idlib, the last rebel and jihadist stronghold in Syria. In recent weeks, the regime and its Russian ally have taken over several localities in this border province of Turkey.
However, rebel groups, some of which are supported by Ankara, counterattacked and recaptured the strategic city of Saraqeb on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). They again cut the M5 motorway connecting the capital Damascus to the metropolis of Aleppo (North).
"Humanitarian cease-fire" remained a dead letter
Western members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council called for a "Humanitarian cease-fire", remained a dead letter in the face of Moscow's refusal. Seven civilians, including three children, died Thursday in Syrian and Russian bombings in the province of Idlib, according to the OSDH.
Since December 2019, more than 400 civilians have been killed in the assault, according to the OSDH, and more than 948,000 people, including more than half a million children, have been displaced by the UN.
If Turkey is so interested in Idlib, it is mainly because it fears a new influx of refugees on its soil, where some 3.6 million Syrians already live. Under an agreement concluded in 2016 with the European Union, the country has committed to preventing the passage of migrants to Europe, in particular via Greece.
But on Thursday, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP, Islamist-conservative, Omer Celik) said that Turkey was not "No longer able to retain" migrants who would like to go to Europe, while stressing that Ankara’s migration policy hadn’t "Not changed".
