The Turkish troops who came under fire from the Syrian army were in the province of Idlib in the battle formations of terrorists who attacked government troops. This was reported in the Russian Defense Ministry, commenting on the aggravation of the situation in northwestern Syria.

“On February 27, in the area of ​​the settlement of Behun, Turkish soldiers who were in the battle formations of terrorist groups fell under the shelling of Syrian troops,” the press release said.

According to the defense ministry, on this day the Kha'yat Tahrir al-Sham * terrorist group * attempted a large-scale attack on the positions of the Syrian government forces in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

However, the Turkish military should not have been in the area of ​​Behun, where the incident occurred. Such data Ankara transmitted to the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties (CPVS) as part of the exchange of information to prevent such incidents.

“Over the past day ... the coordinates of the location of all units of the Turkish armed forces located close to the areas of terrorist operations were constantly requested and confirmed from Turkish colleagues ... According to the coordinates provided by the Turkish side to the Russian Center for Reconciliation, no units of the Turkish armed forces in the populated area Behun point was not and should not have been, ”the Ministry of Defense said.

“Immediately after receiving information about the injured Turkish military personnel, the Russian side took comprehensive measures for a complete ceasefire by the Syrian forces and ensured the safe evacuation of dead and wounded Turkish military personnel in Turkey,” the department said.

They added that the aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Behun region was not used.

According to the Turkish side, as a result of an airstrike in Idlib province, 33 soldiers were killed and another 36 were injured. This was reported by Anadolu agency with reference to the governor of the Turkish province of Hatay Rahmi Dogan, Syria.

#BREAKING Number of martyred Turkish soldiers rises to 33 from Assad regime airstrike in Idlib, Syria

- ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) February 28, 2020

It is noted that the Minister of National Defense of Turkey Hulusi Akar arrived in Hatay, where the Turkish headquarters of the tactical operations command in Idlib is located. Before that, he took part in a meeting on security issues, which was chaired by President of the Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Shortly before that, the Turkish side announced plans to begin consultations with NATO in connection with these events. This was broadcast on TRT by the press secretary of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Omer Chelik.

“A perfect attack on Turkey is an attack on NATO. We expect that certain steps will be taken to (create. - RT ) a no-fly zone, ”TASS quoted him as saying. Celik also said that from now on, Turkey considers all the Syrian military "enemy targets."

In response to a blow to the Turkish military in Idlib, Ankara launched a retaliatory attack on the ground and in the air. There are no official data on the losses of the Syrian side yet. At the same time, shortly before reports of shelling of the Turkish military, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that the forces of the Arab Republic are fighting with terrorists and groups supported by Ankara in the south-eastern part of Idlib.

Against the backdrop of the events in Idlib, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, after which information appeared about convening an emergency meeting of the alliance. It will be held February 28 at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Today, the #NATO Council meets at Turkey's request to consult under Article 4 of NATO's founding Washington Treaty on the situation in Syria: https://t.co/mwiEZfNGE3

- Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) February 28, 2020

“He (Stoltenberg. - RT ) calls on all parties to de-escalate this dangerous situation in order to avoid further deterioration of the grave humanitarian crisis in the region,” said the representative of the Alliance’s head, Oana Lungescu.

UN Secretary General Antoniu Guterres also expressed his concern against the backdrop of a new aggravation in Idlib. His press service issued a statement in which the head of the organization called for an end to the clashes.

“The Secretary-General once again calls for an immediate ceasefire and expresses particular concern about the risks that will arise in relation to civilians in the event of an escalation of hostilities,” said Secretary General Stefan Dujarrik.

As Guterres pointed out, the only solution to the situation is the political process.

In turn, representatives of the State Department expressed concern about the situation and expressed support for Turkey as its NATO ally.

In addition, representatives of the United States expressed the hope that amid the situation in Syria, Ankara will abandon the Russian S-400 air defense systems. US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson drew attention to this circumstance, who expressed the assumption that the events in Idlib should “outweigh” everything else that is happening between Turkey and Russia.

“And I hope that President Erdogan will see that we are their ally in the past and in the future, and they must abandon the S-400,” RIA Novosti quoted Hutchinson as saying.

At the same time, according to her, the NATO countries are not yet discussing the use of the fifth article of the Collective Defense Treaty in connection with the aggravation between Turkey and Syria. Recall that the document in this part states that the organization sees an armed attack on a NATO member country as an attack on the alliance as a whole.

Russia has repeatedly pointed out Turkey’s responsibility for the current aggravation of the situation in Idlib. So, on February 27, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that one of the main reasons why the situation in Syrian Idlib worsened was the failure to comply with the terms of the Russian-Turkish memorandum concluded in September 2018.

As Zakharova pointed out, a ceasefire was introduced on January 9, however, despite this, the terrorists located in Idlib continued their attacks, having since made over 1.8 thousand shellings. She added that Russian-Turkish talks on the situation in the region are continuing in Ankara.

* “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (“Jabhat Fath al-Sham”, “Front al-Nusra”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.