https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ia-idlib-assad
Turkish soldiers killed as battle for control of Idlib escalates
Six Turkish soldiers and at least 13 Syrian government troops have been killed as the two sides traded fire in Syria’s Idlib province, in a significant escalation in the battle to control the country’s last opposition stronghold.
Turkey sent a large military convoy across its southern border into Idlib overnight in an effort to stem the bloodshed caused by a ferocious regime assault on the areaunder the cover of Russian airstrikes........
Artillery shelling on Turkish positions near the flashpoint town of Saraqeb early on Monday caused six casualties and injured seven more soldiers, the Turkish defence ministry said, adding that 30-35 troops fighting for Bashar al-Assad had been killed in retaliatory attacks. The war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of Syrian dead at 13, while the Syrian state news agency reported zero casualties.
The Turkish military maintains 12 observation posts in Idlib to monitor an earlier ceasefire agreement that has since collapsed. The defence ministry said Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and attacked there despite prior notification of their coordinates to the local authorities. The claim was disputed by officials in Moscow, who said Ankara had failed to notify the Russian military about troop movements overnight in Idlib and that the Turkish troops were hit by Syrian fire that was directed at “terrorists”, a reference to al-Qaida-linked militants west of Saraqeb.
While Turkey has intervened militarily in Syria three times to date in cross-border operations against Islamic State and US-backed Kurdish-led forces it regards as a terrorist threat, Monday’s clash was a rare direct confrontation against Assad’s troops and allied militias........
Speaking on Monday, the Turkish president said the operation in Idlib was ongoing and reiterated a warning to Assad’s backers in Moscow not to stand in the way of the Turkish action. “Those who test Turkey’s determination regarding Syria’s Idlib with such treacherous attacks will realise their mistake,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters before his departure from Ankara for Ukraine.