Syrian, Turkish forces in new deadly clash

SYRIAN and Turkish forces exchanged fire on Monday in another deadly clash in northwest Syria, where nearly 700,000 people have fled escalating violence in the last major opposition bastion.

Turkey, which backs Syrian rebel factions, said five of its troops were killed by Syrian regime fire in Idlib province, and that it had “neutralised” 101 Syrian soldiers in response.

It was not possible to verify that claim and neither Syrian state media nor the Syrian Observatory for

Human Rights, a war monitor, immediately reported casualties among Syrian army ranks.

The exchange was the second in eight days and took place in the area of Taftanaz, where Turkey recently sent in troops, the Britainbased Observatory said.

Regime shelling a week earlier killed eight Turkish soldiers, prompting a deadly response by the Turkish army.

The clashes are further straining relations between Damascus and Ankara, while also increasing tension between Russia and Turkey -- the conflict’s chief foreign protagonists.