"Operation 'Shield of Spring', launched after the vile attack on February 27 in Idleb, continues successfully," said Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Sunday March 1 in a speech broadcast on television. . The military offensive against Bashar al-Assad's regime was launched by Turkey in Idleb, in north-western Syria, in response to attacks that caused heavy losses in Ankara.
On Saturday, Ankara multiplied the drone strikes against the positions of the regime, but it is the first time that Ankara officially announces that these are part of a more general operation.
Hulusi Akar added that the aim of the offensive was "to put an end to the massacres of the regime and to prevent a migratory wave". He added that his country had "neither the intention nor the desire to enter into a confrontation with Russia", which supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad, while stressing that Turkey expected Moscow to pressurize Damascus to "stop his attacks".
Two Syrian regime planes were targeted during the day by Turkish forces in the Idleb region, according to Syrian state media.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), as well as a pro-Ankara rebel group, for their part assured that the two planes had been "shot down".
Frictions between Ankara and Moscow
The Turkish Defense Minister's statements come after weeks of escalation between Ankara and Damascus in the Idleb region.
Air strikes attributed to the Syrian regime on Thursday killed 33 Turkish soldiers. These are the heaviest losses, in a single attack, suffered by Ankara since the beginning of its intervention in Syria in 2016.
On Friday and Saturday, nearly 90 Syrian soldiers and combatants from allied groups in Damascus were killed by the strikes carried out by Ankara in retaliation, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
With support from the Russian air force, the Syrian regime has been waging a deadly offensive since December to retake the Idleb region, the last rebel and jihadist stronghold in Syria.
This offensive has created friction between Ankara and Moscow. Even though Turkey supports certain rebel groups, and although Russia supports the Damascus regime, the two countries have been strengthening their cooperation on the Syrian issue in recent years.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan summoned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to "get out of the way" from Turkey to Syria and assured that the Syrian regime would "pay the price" for its attacks.
The humanitarian situation in Idleb is already dire, and escalating tensions in the region are raising fears from the international community.
Since the start of the regime's offensive in December, nearly a million people have been displaced in this border region of Turkey. Ankara, which hosts some 3.6 million Syrians on its soil, fears a new influx of refugees. In total, since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, more than 380,000 people have been killed.
With AFP
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