Turkey hits state forces in retaliatory air strikes
ISTANBUL — Turkey deployed F16 fighter jets against government forces in northwestern Syria on Monday, a sharp escalation of the conflict there after six Turkish soldiers were killed by artillery strikes.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said that as many as 35 Syrian troops had been “neutralized.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the number of military personnel killed was at least 13, while state news media in Syria made no mention of any deaths. There were also reports on social media of at least eight civilian deaths when a minibus was struck.
Erdogan warned Russia, which backs the Syrian government and which controls the airspace in western Syria, not to prevent Turkey from retaliating.
“It should be out of discussion to block us,” Erdogan said. Describing the dead Turkish soldiers as martyrs, he added that, “It is not possible for us to keep silent” as long as his country’s troops were being targeted.
Erdogan has frequently met with President
Vladimir Putin of Russia to discuss Syria and, in particular, the thorny problem of Idlib province, which Moscow wants to bring under Syrian government control to declare victory in the war.
Syrian government forces have recently intensified their offensive in Idlib, in western Syria, the last rebelheld province. Turkey deployed several hundred troops to observation posts there in 2018, as part of an agreement with Russia to create a deescalation zone in the area.
But Russian and Syrian forces have been conducting an offensive on the major highway through the province, prompting hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee north toward the border with Turkey.
Turkey already has taken in nearly 4 million people trying to escape the war, which started nearly nine years ago, and is concerned that the Syrian push into the area will create a fresh surge of refugees. It has closed its border with Syria to prevent more refugees from entering.
Nearly 700,000 people have been displaced since the Russianled offensive began in Idlib last year — 140,000 in January alone.
Many are camping in the open in increasingly desperate conditions.
The deployment of air power came after the Turkish Defense Ministry said a supply convoy bringing reinforcements to the observation posts Monday had come under fire, leaving six Turkish soldiers dead and several others wounded.
“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such heinous attacks will understand they have made a huge mistake,” Erdogan said.
Moscow, however, disputed Turkey’s account, saying that the Russian Defense Ministry had not been told about the troop movements.
Syrian forces were trying to hit militants linked with al Qaeda, the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to the Associated Press, and Turkish forces were struck because they were in the area. (To justify their attacks, including those that have killed many civilians, Russia and the Syrian government have consistently argued they must go on the offensive to eradicate terrorists.)