Turkish soldiers come under fire in Syria, the retaliation follows promptly - there are victims on both sides. Erdogan speaks of "base attacks". Russia also has its say.
Istanbul / Damascus (dpa) - After the killing of several Turkish soldiers in Syria, Turkey has launched a retaliatory attack in the northwest of the civil war country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that 30 to 35 Syrian fighters have been "incapacitated" so far. This can mean killed or injured. Activists from the Syrian Human Rights Observatory said 13 Syrian government soldiers were killed in the Turkish attacks. Erdogan also sent a warning to Syria's allies Russia not to stand in the way of the attacks.
According to its own account, Turkey reacted to a fire on Turkish forces by the Syrian military in the province of Idlib. According to Erdogan, five Turkish soldiers and three civilians died. The state-run Syrian news agency Sana reported that the Syrian military continues to attack "strongholds of terrorist organizations". Four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine others injured.
Idlib is the last major rebel area in Syria after almost nine years of civil war. It is controlled by the Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia group close to Al Qaeda. The Syrian army, which is supported by Russia, among others, launched an offensive on the region around the city of Idlib in the northwest of the country last year.
Turkey is on the side of the rebels and has twelve military posts in the region. Russia, Iran and Turkey had declared Idlib a so-called de-escalation zone in 2017. Refugees should find protection there.
The Ministry of Defense in Ankara said that Turkey had sent the soldiers for reinforcement, that they had been shot at despite the coordinates being announced. The Russian military, on the other hand, emphasized that the Turkish side had not informed the Russians of their movements. They came under fire from Syrian government troops who wanted to act against "terrorists".
Erdogan went on to say that such an attack cannot be left unanswered and that Turkey will ask for an account. "Those who test Turkey's determination with this kind of vicious attack will understand that they have made a big mistake."
Addressed to Russia, he warned: "You shouldn't be standing in our way." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish colleague Mevlüt Cavusoglu had stressed during a phone call that the conflict had to be resolved politically and diplomatically. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in Moscow.
After a meeting with the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Selenskyj in Kiev, Erdogan once again sharply criticized Russia and said that the attacks by the Syrian regime and "looking away from Russia" had again triggered a refugee movement towards the Turkish border. Erdogan put the number of refugees at one million. The situation is "intolerable," said Erdogan.
Aid workers complain of a dramatic humanitarian situation in Idlib. According to the United Nations, nearly 390,000 people have fled violence since early December.
Erdogan warned last week that if the situation in Idlib did not improve, Turkey would not shy away from further military operations in Syria. His country could no longer accept any more refugees from Syria. According to official figures, Turkey is already home to more than 3.6 million Syrians.