Forces of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Allied fighters took over the last stretch of a key highway between Damascus and Aleppo in northwestern Syria on Tuesday (February 11th). On the same day, a Russian delegation who came to Ankara to discuss the Syrian offensive in the Idleb region left without apparent agreement to end the fighting, which left 13 people dead in a week on the Turkish side.
The envoys from Russia arrived in Turkey on Saturday, a few days after the death of eight Turks in a Syrian artillery bombing in the province of Idleb, the last region of Syria beyond the control of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Five Turkish soldiers were also killed Monday in the attack on an observation post.
Turkish forces have bombed Syrian targets in retaliation, rekindling already strong tensions between the two countries since the start of the conflict almost nine years ago.
"We have responded properly to the Syrian side, especially to Idleb. They have had what they deserve. But it is not enough, it will continue," Turkish President Recep Tayyip warned Tuesday. Erdogan.
A helicopter shot down
On the ground, Syrian forces seized the M5 motorway, which links Aleppo to Damascus, after capturing the last rebel stronghold located on the road, in the western suburbs of Aleppo.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, a Syrian helicopter was shot down in the town of Nairab, which the Syrian forces evacuated.
A Turkish government official has said that the rebels have launched a counter-offensive and may soon reclaim territory around the city of Saraqeb, southeast of the city of Idleb, which they have lost in recent days.
Nearly 700,000 displaced
Ankara said in a statement that it had called on Russia to immediately end the attacks on Turkish observation posts in northwestern Syria, warning that such attacks would not go unpunished.
The Kremlin, for its part, called for "the cessation of all terrorist activity directed against the Syrian armed forces and Russian military installations", alluding to rebel actions. "We consider all these exits from Idleb to be unacceptable," said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency.
The rapid advance of Syrian forces, backed by Russian air forces and pro-Iranian militias, has caused the exodus of nearly 700,000 people in the past ten weeks, according to humanitarian agencies.
"This is according to our first analyzes the largest number of displaced people in a single period since the start of the Syrian conflict nine years ago," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. United Nations.
Turkey, home to 3.6 million Syrian refugees, says it cannot accommodate more.
With Reuters
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