Dangerous escalation in the fight for the Syrian province of Idlib!
Two Turkish soldiers were killed again in an airstrike in the contested Syrian province of Idlib. There in northwestern Syria, Turkey and rebels on the one hand and Russia and Assad forces on the other face each other.
In Idlib and neighboring provinces in northwestern Syria, the Syrian army and Iranian-controlled militias, with the support of Russia, have been taking action against Syrian rebels and, in some cases, Islamist militias since April last year. The Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad (54) wants to bring the last militia stronghold in the country back under his control.
According to BILD research, two Turkish soldiers were killed in Russian attacks last week.
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Turkey is on the side of Assad’s opponents. She calls for Syrian troops to withdraw behind Turkish military posts in the region by the end of the month.
Sarakib again under the control of the rebels
Turkey started on Wednesday morning and allied rebel associations launched a counter-offensive in Idlib. In addition to two small villages, it also occupied the large city of Sarakib, which Assad troops had conquered with the help of Russia three weeks ago. The regime had driven out more than 30,000 inhabitants.
Rebels hoisted the flag of the Syrian revolution and Turkey said it would continue to advance if Assad did not withdraw beyond the borders of the “De-escalation zone Idlib” agreed in Astana.
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According to the UN, around 948,000 people have fled the contested area in northwest Syria since the beginning of December. Many of them live in disastrous areas in the border with Turkey. The UN Security Council discussed the humanitarian situation in Syria on Thursday. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (53, SPD) also wants to take part in the meeting.
The spokesman for the Turkish president already repeated the ultimatum of Recep Tayyip Erdogan (66) on Monday, according to which the Syrian troops would have to withdraw completely behind the Turkish “observation points” around the province of Idlib by the end of February.
Assad has so far ignored Erdogan’s threat and has instead brought 139 villages in Idlib and Aleppo under his control since Erdogan’s first threat on February 5.
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