After the killing of dozens of Turks in Idlib .. international calls for calm and Turkey vows to respond

The United States and NATO condemned the bombing carried out by the Syrian regime forces on a Turkish military gathering near Idlib on Thursday evening, killing 33 Turkish soldiers and wounding 36 others.

The United States called on the Syrian regime and Russia to end their attack, which it described as heinous, and the US State Department expressed its deep concern about the attack on Turkish soldiers, and announced in a statement that Washington stood next to Turkey, its partner in NATO.

For his part, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his condemnation of the attacks by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia, and demanded that they be stopped.

Stoltenberg expressed his hope that the Syrian regime and Russia will abide by international law and support the peace efforts of the United Nations, calling on all parties to exercise restraint and prevent the aggravation of dangerous situations, especially the humanitarian situation.

In turn, a UN spokesman said that the Secretary-General of the International Organization, António Guterres, was following "with great concern" the escalation in northwestern Syria and the news of the killing of dozens of Turkish soldiers in an air strike.

The spokesman said that the UN Secretary-General again calls for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, and "expresses his particular concern at the danger of escalation of military actions on civilians."

Earlier on Friday, the governor of the Turkish Hatay region, Rahmi Dogan, said that 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike carried out by the Syrian government forces in the Idlib region.

Also, 36 Turkish soldiers were wounded in the air strikes in northwestern Syria, which Ankara attributed to the Syrian regime, and those were transferred to Hatay for treatment, according to Dogan.

On Thursday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held an extraordinary security meeting on the situation in northwestern Syria, which was attended by Defense Minister Khusi Akar, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavişoغلlu, Chief of Staff Major General Yasar Guler and Chief of Intelligence Hakan Vidan.

The Turkish army responded to the regime forces by bombing several sites of it, and the head of the communication department in the Turkish presidency, Fakhruddin Alton, said that "all of the (Syrian) regime's specific targets were targeted by the fire of our ground and air forces."

Alton called on the international community - including Russia and Iran - to "fulfill its responsibilities" in order to "stop the crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian regime."

He added, "We did not and will not stand by and watch what happened in Idlib, similar to the events that took place in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Qalin discussed in connection with the US National Security Adviser the recent developments in Idlib.

On Thursday evening, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar held a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Mark Esper, and discussed the situation in Idlib and defense and security issues.