Turkey hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least four Turkish soldiers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
A Syrian war monitor said six Syrian troops were also killed.
The exchange, which came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, is likely to further increase tensions between the two neighboring countries, as such direct clashes have been rare.
Photo: AFP
Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said the Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and were attacked there, despite prior notification of their coordinates to the local authorities.
It said Turkish forces responded to the attack, destroying targets.
Along with four killed, nine Turkish troops were wounded.
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, Erdogan said Turkish artillery hit about 46 targets.
He said Turkish warplanes were also involved and claimed that there were between 30 and 35 casualties on the Syrian side, but offered no evidence.
“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such vile attacks will understand their mistake,” Erdogan said.
He suggested that Turkey would not accept attempts by Russia to calm the tensions, saying Moscow was told that Ankara would not stand for any “situation where we are prevented.”
“It is not possible for us to remain silent when our soldiers are being martyred,” Erdogan said.
The exchange occurred near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group.
It came amid a Syrian government offensive into the country’s last rebel stronghold, located in Idlib and parts of the nearby Aleppo region.
Turkish troops are deployed in some of those rebel-held areas to monitor an earlier ceasefire that was agreed to, but that has since collapsed.
Relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated sharply since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.
Syria have accused Turkey of undermining its security by allowing thousands of foreign fighters to battle the Syrian army. Idlib Province is dominated by al-Qaeda-linked militants.
With Russian backing, the Syria government has been on the offensive since December last year to capture and reopen a strategic highway held by the rebels since 2012.
The offensive ignored a ceasefire deal brokered late last year between Russia and Turkey. The deal has since collapsed.
Syrian government forces captured the key Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan from the rebels on Wednesday last week, and have now set their sights on Saraqeb.
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