Turkey responds to shelling by striking at key Syrian targets
● Civilians and soldiers die on both sides after latest tit-for-tat attacks
Turkey has hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least six Turkish military personnel.
A Syrian war monitor said 13 Syrian troops were also killed.
Syrian activists said airstrikes in the country’s northern, rebel-held region separately killed at least nine civilians yesterday.
The exchange between Ankara and Damascus came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the north-western province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
It is likely to further increase tensions between the two neighbouring countries as such direct clashes have been rare and could also cause friction between Moscow and Ankara, which have sought to co-ordinate their actions in Syria.
Turkey’s national defence ministry said the Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and were attacked there despite prior notification of their co-ordinates to the local authorities. The ministry said Turkish forces responded to the attack, destroying targets.
Four Turkish soldiers died at the scene while another soldier and a Turkish civilian member of the military personnel died later in hospital. Seven Turkish troops were wounded.
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish artillery hit about 46 targets in Syria.
Mr Erdogan said Turkish warplanes were also involved and claimed 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,” Mr Erdogan said. He said Russia was told 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,” Mr Erdogan said.
The deaths were one of the highest single-day tolls for Turkish troops in Syria. Ankara has lost scores of military personnel in the Syrian war.
Turkey’s defence minister, Hulusi Akar, immediately travelled to the Turkey-syrian border to assure the troops.
“Our people should know that the necessary has been done and will continue to be done,” he said upon arrival.
The exchange occurred near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a war monitoring group. The body said Turkish troops had shelled Syrian army positions in three provinces, killing eight soldiers in Idlib, three in Latakia province and two in the Hama region.
But Syria’s state news agency SANA said government forces captured two new villages on the way to Saraqeb. The news service said Syrian troops were chasing insurgents, four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded triggering a Turkish retaliation, but it claimed there were no casualties among Syrian troops.
The Russian defence ministry said Turkey had failed to notify the Russian military about troop movements overnight in Idlib and the Turkish troops got hit by Syrian fire that was directed at “terrorists” – a reference to alqaida-linked militants – west of Saraqeb.
The Russian military, which controls the airspace over Idlib province, said the Turkish aircraft never entered Syria’s airspace during yesterday’s attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military remains in “constant contact” with Turkish counterparts in Syria.
The escalation comes amid a Syrian government offensive into the country’s last rebel stronghold, located in Idlib and parts of the nearby Aleppo region.