On Tuesday, March 3, in the north-west of Syria, Turkish F-16 fighter aircraft shot down an aircraft of the government of the SAR. Information about the incident was confirmed by both parties to the conflict.

"An aircraft of the L-39 type belonging to the forces of the (Syrian. - RT ) regime was shot down as part of the Spring Shield operation," the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

Presumably, we are talking about the combat training aircraft Aero L-39 Albatros, which was mass-produced from 1970 to 1999 in the Czech Republic.

The Turkish military department also reported on “military successes” over the past 24 hours, in addition to the aircraft, Turkish troops destroyed the Syrian drone, six tanks, five howitzers, two air defense systems, three armored combat vehicles, five armed pickups, six combat vehicles and one ammunition depot. In addition, 327 Syrian troops were eliminated.

However, the Syrian agency SANA reported that an aircraft of the SAR army was shot down by a rocket during a combat mission and crashed in the area of ​​the village of Maarrat al-Nuuman. Information about the fate of the pilots in the material is not given.

We add that on the eve of the government of the SAR closed the airspace over the province of Idlib in connection with the sharply aggravated situation. The Russian Ministry of Defense, in turn, said that in these conditions they can not guarantee the safety of Turkish aviation.

A military operation called "Spring Shield" was launched by Ankara on February 27 after it became known that more than 30 Turkish soldiers died during an Syrian air strike. The Russian Defense Ministry, referring to the data transmitted by Ankara, noted that Turkish soldiers should not have been in this area. The aim of the SAR troops was the positions of the militants of the Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham * terrorist group * in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

  • Refugees heading from Turkey to Greece
  • AFP
  • © Ozan KOSE

On Tuesday, March 3, a closed meeting was held in the Turkish parliament regarding the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone. It is known that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar made reports.

In addition to launching a military operation, Turkey decided to open borders with EU countries for Syrian refugees. More than 117 thousand illegal migrants have already crossed them. The authorities of the republic explain this decision by the failure of the European Union to fulfill its financial promises.

“Which of the promises made by Turkey is kept by the European Union? Even half of the promised six billion euros did not reach the Syrians, the voluntary reception of migrants did not begin, and no contribution was made to the creation of a security zone in Syria. We cannot forcibly restrain those who want to leave Turkish territory. For years, you have ignored what is happening. Is it time to fulfill the obligations, ”Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter.

Thus, the Turkish minister responded to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who said that the EU “sees what a burden falls on Ankara’s shoulders,” but she must continue to implement the migration agreement and prevent refugees from “becoming the subject of a geopolitical game”.

At the same time, German Minister of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer called on the West to "exert pressure" on Moscow and Damascus to resolve the "terrible humanitarian situation" and begin the political process in Syria. While the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milli, appealed to Russia and Turkey with a call for an early de-escalation of tension.

In the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, such critical statements against the Russian Federation and the SAR were called bankrupt. According to the head of the Center, Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev, objective data refute the assertion that the Syrian military is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Idlib.

In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference during a working visit to Finland, said that Moscow understands the difficult situation with migrants in the EU, but cannot contribute to its solution by ending the fight against terrorism.

“The solution to the problem lies in the full implementation of the agreements of the presidents of Russia and Turkey, which were reached in September 2018 on the de-escalation zone in Idlib. Unfortunately, they are not yet being realized. I hope that the upcoming meeting of Presidents Putin and Erdogan this week will allow us to change this situation and begin to move towards realizing what we are striving for, ”Lavrov said.

The Kremlin confirmed that on March 5, the leaders of the two countries will meet in Moscow to discuss the problems of the Syrian settlement "taking into account the current aggravation of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone."

“We hope that we are able to minimize this risk (direct confrontation between the military of the Russian Federation and Turkey. - RT ) thanks to the close contact and dialogue that is taking place between the military of the two countries,” said Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

* “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.