It is a brutal escalation. At least 29 Turkish soldiers were killed Thursday in air strikes in Idleb province. At 11:30 p.m., Akara announced that she was retaliating by bombing "all known positions of the regime" of Bashar al-Assad, after a security council convened by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned "the indiscriminate air strikes by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally" and called for "de-escalation". Stoltenberg met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, said a NATO spokesperson. He called on Damascus and Moscow to "cease their offensive", and "urged all parties to de-escalate this dangerous situation and to avoid further aggravating the appalling humanitarian situation in the region".
Support from Moscow
The heavy losses sustained by Ankara on Thursday come after weeks of escalation in Idleb between Turkish and Bashar al-Assad regime forces, who have clashed repeatedly. The losses suffered by Turkey on Thursday, which bring the number of Turkish soldiers killed in Idleb to at least 42 in February, may also widen the gap between Ankara and Moscow, the main sponsor of the Syrian regime. The death toll of Turkish soldiers killed on Thursday could further increase, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO, having reported more than 30 dead in the air and artillery bombings of the regime.
A new round of talks between Russians and Turks aimed at finding a solution to the Idleb crisis ended Thursday in Ankara, without announcing a conclusive result. According to the state news agency Anadolu, the head of Turkish diplomacy met Thursday evening with the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.
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. However, rebel groups, some of which are supported by Ankara, counterattacked and recaptured the strategic city of Saraqeb on Thursday, according to the OSDH.
UN calls for humanitarian ceasefire
Western members of the UN Security Council on Thursday called for a "humanitarian cease-fire", which went unheeded when Russia refused. Seven civilians, including three children, died Thursday in Syrian and Russian bombings on the province of Idleb, according to the OSDH. Since December, more than 400 civilians have been killed in the assault according to the OSDH and more than 948,000 people, including more than half a million children, have been displaced according to the UN.
At the UN, disagreement remains total between Western countries and Russia. "The displacement of nearly a million people in just three months, the murder of hundreds of civilians, the daily suffering of hundreds of thousands of children must stop," said in a joint statement the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, and the head of German diplomacy, Heiko Maas.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said that "the only long-term solution is to drive the terrorists out of the country". The International Rescue Committee said on Thursday that "the parties to the conflict must feel pressure to end this assault on civilians".
"We have a desperate need for a cessation of hostilities" and "regular humanitarian breaks," said UNICEF director Henrietta Fore. Triggered in March 2011 by the suppression of peaceful demonstrations, the war left more than 380,000 dead.
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Syria: Erdogan announces summit with Russia, France and Germany over Idleb
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