Syria: Ankara responds after the death of Turkish soldiers

Text by: RFO

Turkey bombed Thursday night the positions of the Bashar al-Assad regime in retaliation for the deaths of 29 Turkish soldiers in the Idleb region (northwest of Syria), said the Turkish presidency.

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" All known positions of the (Syrian) regime have been taken under fire from our ground and air units ," said presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun in a statement.

This response comes after the death of at least 29 Turkish soldiers in strikes attributed by Ankara to the Syrian regime in the Idleb region. " Our valiant soldiers will be avenged, " said Mr. Altun.

The Turkish official also urged the international community, including Russia and Iran, sponsors of Damascus, to " assume their responsibilities " to " put an end to the crimes against humanity committed by the regime ".

→ Read also: Syria: Turkey will not take “the slightest step backwards” in Idleb

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened an extraordinary national security council Thursday evening devoted to the situation in Idleb. The heavy losses sustained by Turkish forces on Thursday come after weeks of escalation in Idleb between Ankara and the Syrian regime, supported by Moscow.

With support from the Moscow air force, Damascus launched an offensive in December to retake Idleb's last rebel and jihadist stronghold. The regime and its Russian ally have been working hard in recent weeks and have taken over several localities in this border province of Turkey.

The offensive also led to tensions between Russia and Turkey, two major players in the Syrian conflict who have strengthened their cooperation on this file since 2016 despite their divergent interests.

In recent days, Erdogan has repeatedly urged the Syrian regime to withdraw its forces by the end of February from certain areas in the Idleb region, threatening otherwise to use force.

The Syrian regime's offensive also caused a humanitarian catastrophe, with nearly a million displaced people trapped in a narrow strip of territory on the Turkish border. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions of people since 2011.

(With AFP )

Indignation of the Security Council

At the UN on Thursday, talking about the humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Syria, the secretary-general denounced the insufficient transfer of humanitarian aid to Idleb since two of the four cross-border crossings were closed at the end of January, under pressure from Russia, an ally of the Assad regime, and where 80% of the refugees are women and children. He called on Damascus to improve things or he would demand the reopening of new passages. And all members of the Security Council, except Russia, detailed the humanitarian disaster.

With our correspondent in New York, Carrie Nooten

Rarely have the members of the Security Council accumulated so many stories from Idleb to express their indignation. One explains that parents burn their own clothes to be able to warm their families. Another confirms that half a million children have been displaced in Idleb, sometimes for the 6th or 7th time. In addition to better access to humanitarian aid, the director of Unicef ​​called for an immediate cease-fire.

Henrietta Fore, who will be going to Syria next week, made a sinister ginning that marked the spirits:

“ The recent strikes on these makeshift camps in Idleb and on these children and professions killed in a horrible way just two days ago in attacks on 10 schools are both reprehensible and morally repugnant. Hospitals remain targets : 72 of them have stopped operating due to fighting. We heard that children were dying of cold. And one in four children is at risk of developing severe mental health problems. "

The three permanent members of the Council who had argued for the maintenance of these 4 humanitarian access points - France, Great Britain and the United States -, as well as Germany and Belgium have specifically accused Russia of being responsible for these "war crimes" and reminded her that she would not escape the commission of inquiry.

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