Turkey’s President Erdogan optimistic decisions made with his Russian counterpart Putin will help ease the crisis in Syria’s Idlib
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in Moscow, Russia on March 5, 2020 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped decisions made at his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday would ease the situation in northwest Syria's Idlib region, where conflict has escalated in recent weeks.
"I am sure you all join me in urging them to find an immediate diplomatic solution that could spare civilians further suffering... and create more conducive conditions for a political process", UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told Arab League, foreign ministers, in Cairo.Turkey's Erdogan said on Wednesday he expects his talks with Russian President Putin on Thursday to result in the rapid achievement of a ceasefire in northwest Syria's Idlib region.
The ministry listed the following as Syrian regime losses: three fighter jets, eight helicopters, three UAVs, 151 tanks, 47 howitzers, 52 rocket launchers, 12 antitank weapons, four mortars, 10 arsenal depots and 145 military, technical and combat vehicles.One Turkish soldier was killed and nine others were wounded in attacks in Idlib, northwest Syria, Turkey’s defence chief said on Tuesday night.
According to White Helmets, a rocket hit the city centre of Idlib and killed nine civilians, four of them children.Another civilian was killed by the Russian air strike in Binnish, a district in Idlib.Turkish Armed Forces killed 327 Syrian regime soldiers, Turkey's defence ministry said in its 24-hour report on Operation Spring Shield in Idlib against Syria's Assad regime.
The ministry announced on Twitter that Turkish soldiers who had been sent as reinforcements to Idlib to prevent conflicts had come under artillery fire from regime forces."Turkey retaliated against the attack with full force and regime targets were heavily struck and destroyed,” said the ministry.At least nine civilians in Idlib, Syria were killed when Russian fighter jets launched air strikes, sources with civil defence groups said late Monday.
"For every one of ours killed, we destroy dozens of regime elements and make them pay a heavy price by destroying their jets and ammunition," he said.Erdogan said he is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Moscow.A US delegation arrived in Turkey's capital, Ankara, on Monday to hold talks on Syria with Turkish officials.
The 19 died in strikes on a military convoy in the Jabal al Zawiya area and at a base near Maarat al Numan city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "We have no intention of confronting Russia but we want to stop the Assad regime's massacre of civilians. Our target is only regime forces and elements attacking our troops," he added.
Akar, Chief of General Staff General Yasar Guler and commanders of Turkish Land and Air Forces monitored latest developments along the border, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene. He underlined that the humanitarian crisis in the region will be deepened as the regime continues its attacks.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara wants the US to send Patriot missiles to Turkey for back-up in Syria's northwest province of Idlib. Speaking to AK Party members at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Erdogan also said more than 2,100 regime soldiers have been killed and more than 300 of their vehicles have been destroyed by the Turkish military.
Speaking at an emergency meeting on Idlib, Sinirlioglu warned the regime not to make the mistake of targeting Turkish troops directly. Turkey destroyed 387 troops, 31 tanks, 5 helicopters and 10 armoured vehicles in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. A senior State Department official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said that Washington is looking urgently to support Ankara with information-sharing and equipment.
Syrian regime has close coordination with the Russian government over air and missile strikes, the official added. "The two leaders agreed that the Syrian regime, Russia and the Iranian regime must halt their offensive before more innocent civilians are killed and displaced," the statement said.on Twitter that the two leaders agreed by phone on the need to take additional steps to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Idlib, where nearly one million people have been displaced by the latest fighting.
Offering her condolences to families of Turkish victims, Merkel pledged solidarity with Erdogan in humanitarian support for those displaced by the conflict in Idlib. Turkey on Friday said the positions of the Assad regime inside Syria's Idlib have now become legitimate targets following a strike that killed 33 Turkish soldiers, widening anger in Ankara.
Altun added that in an environment where our country is under direct attack, he [Erdogan] said Turkey considers all elements of the regime "legitimate target" and that those targets will be under fire. "We call on Russia and the Syria regime to stop the attacks, to stop the indiscriminate air attacks ... we also call on Russia and Syria to fully respect the international law," Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.
Moscow earlier said Turkish troops "were in the battle formations of terrorist groups" and that according to information provided by Turkey, there were no Turkish troops in the area. Greece was the main gateway for hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming out of Turkey in a mass exodus in 2015 and 2016, until a deal brokered with the EU stemmed the flow.NATO condemns regime-Russia strikes, calls meeting
It is separate from the alliance's Article 5 mutual self-defence pact, which refers to an attack on any member's territory. The US State Department on Wednesday slammed the justification by the Syrian regime and its allies for their ongoing campaign in Idlib, denying any sort of interest on their part in fighting terrorism.The US and key Western allies demanded an immediate ceasefire in Idlib which is facing what the UN calls an "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe" but Russia ignored their calls and said it will keep helping the government eliminate "terrorists" from Idlib.
said Turkish air and land forces responded with suppressive fire against all known Syrian regime targets."Today, we cannot and will not spectate that what happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past is repeated in Idlib," Altun said.
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