Feb 04 2020 12:22 Gmt+3
The United Nations expressed its alarm on Monday after Syrian government shelling killed eight Turkish personnel in Idlib province, sparking retaliation from Turkey, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
While Turkey pounded Syrian government targets on Monday, with the Turkish Defence Ministry reporting that it had “neutralised” 76 Syrian soldiers, U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric called on both sides to de-escalate and reduce the death toll in the province.
Dujarric described attempts to manage the conflict through contacts between Turkey, the Syrian government and its Russian backers.
The Turkish and Syrian armies came to blows as President Bashar Assad’s forces pressed forth with their attack on Idlib province, where some areas are still controlled by the Syrian opposition and rebel groups deemed as extremists by the Syrian government and Russia.
Turkey said its troops were killed by shelling despite informing Russia of their movements.
Twelve Turkish military observation posts skirt the borders of Idlib province, which Turkey agreed to oversee as part of a deal struck with Russia in September 2018 to prevent an offensive by Assad’s forces.
However, the Syrian government and Russia began strikes on targets in Idlib again in April 2019, saying the continued presence of jihadist groups in Idlib was a breach of the agreement.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey agreed on Monday that the Idlib deal must be observed, Reuters reported, citing Russian news agency Interfax.