Turkey must end its support for " terrorist groups " in the Syrian Idleb region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday (February 20th), adding that it had carried out strikes against armed groups supported by Ankara.
Read also: Syria: EU warns of confrontation between Turkish and Russian forces
Denouncing strikes from Turkish positions that injured four Syrian soldiers, the Russian army called in its statement " the Turkish side to stop supporting the actions of terrorist groups and give them weapons ".
According to the statement, " terrorist groups have carried out several massive attacks " against the Syrian positions in the regions of Al-Nayrab and Qaminas, south of Idleb. The statement said Su-24 bombers struck " terrorist formations " and allowed the Syrian army to repel their attack, destroying " a tank, six armored vehicles and five heavily armed all-terrain vehicles ".
Read also: Syria: Turkey sends reinforcements to Idleb
Russian diplomacy later reacted with the voice of its spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said she was " very concerned about the support of the Turkish armed forces to the combatants ". " Such an incident violates the Russian-Turkish agreements (...) and risks provoking a new escalation of the conflict in this part of the Syrian national territory ", she added, quoted by the news agency Ria Novosti.
The Turkish army announced that two of its soldiers had been killed and five wounded by an air strike in the province of Idleb, attributing these strikes to the Syrian army.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which draws on a vast network of sources, the fighting on Thursday in the province of Idleb, in addition to the two Turkish soldiers, claimed the lives of 11 pro-regime fighters and 14 pro-Turkish rebels.
Read also: More than 380,000 dead in almost nine years of war in Syria, according to the OSDH
These events occur against a background of strong tensions in this region between Turkish forces and Syrian troops. On Wednesday, the Kremlin had already accused Ankara of not respecting the cease-fire in Syria and of doing nothing to " neutralize the terrorists " in the rebel region of Idleb.
The region is theoretically the subject of a de- escalation agreement between Ankara and Moscow, but Turkey has considerably strengthened its military presence there. The regime and Russia, for their part, have made gains against rebel and jihadist groups in recent weeks.
