After its control of Saraqib ... Turkey downs a warplane for the Syrian regime

The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the shooting down of a warplane of the Syrian regime in Idlib, the third since Sunday, while Washington is considering a Turkish request to obtain air defenses.

And the Turkish Ministry of Defense said today, Tuesday, that its forces shot down a Syrian L-39 warplane. A source in the ministry stated that the plane was shot down after being targeted by a Turkish "F-16" plane.

The military source did not mention the fate of the pilot, while the Syrian Observatory confirmed his death after he jumped by parachute in the Deir Sunbul area, which is controlled by the fighting factions. Al-Jazeera correspondent explained that the plane fell over Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib.

Later, the Syrian News Agency (SANA) announced that Turkish forces targeted the regime's warplane.

This is the third Syrian war plane that Turkey has been downing since Sunday in a growing campaign against the Syrian forces.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced what it said was the neutralization of 327 members of the Syrian regime during the past 24 hours, as part of the "Operation Spring Shield" in Idlib Governorate (northwestern Syria).

A Turkish official statement said that a Syrian regime's drones had been shot down, and that six tanks, five artillery positions and two air defense platforms had been destroyed, in addition to other military vehicles.

The statement added that Operation "Spring Shield" continued successfully. The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the killing of a Turkish soldier in an artillery attack yesterday in Idlib.

In the developments of the Syrian issue also, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ankara stated that the Turkish parliament is holding a closed session to listen to the defense and foreign ministers on developments in Idlib.

While the CHP announced its opposition to any military operations of the Turkish army in Syria and demanded the restoration of relations with the Syrian regime, the National Movement Party expressed its full support to the government in any decision related to Idlib.

It is noteworthy that the minutes of this session will remain confidential for a period of ten years, and it is prohibited to announce it before the expiration of this period.

American ready
On the other hand, the American special envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said today, Tuesday, that the United States is ready to provide Turkey with ammunition and humanitarian aid in the Syrian Idlib region.

"Turkey is a NATO partner," Geoffrey told reporters. "Most of the army uses American equipment. We will work to make sure that the equipment is ready and can be used."

Separately, the US ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield said at the press conference that Washington was considering Ankara's request for air defenses.

In a related development, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rapp expressed London's support for Ankara in achieving a comprehensive and continuous ceasefire in Idlib.

Rap's words came after his meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşo فيlu, in Ankara, where the Turkish minister affirmed his country's position calling for a return to the Sochi agreement regarding the calm in Idlib.

Ihsanoglu explained that they discussed the cease-fire in Idlib and the treatment of the humanitarian crisis there, pointing in this context to the convergence of views with London on this issue.

The Turkish minister called on European countries to accept asylum requests for those fleeing the ongoing war there, stressing that Turkey cannot bear alone this large number of Syrian refugees.

On the other hand, a delegation from the European Union headed by foreign policy official Josep Borrell discusses the situation in Idlib and the refugee issue.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed Moscow's desire for close contacts between the Russian and Turkish military to reduce the risk of a confrontation between Russia and Turkey in Idlib.

Peskov added that Moscow rejects the report of the United Nations committee which accuses the Russian air force of targeting civilians in Idlib indiscriminately, and criticized the report's lack of any reference to what he called the terrorist attacks in Idlib, adding that this makes the conclusions contained in the report unilateral.

On the date of a tripartite summit between the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran, Peskov said that the meeting is on the agenda, and the event will be held upon the agreement of the dates of the three presidents.

A battle will watch
On the field level, nine civilians - including five children - were killed on Tuesday in the shelling of the regime forces, which targeted a residential neighborhood in the city of Idlib.

Scenes were broadcast on websites showing the first moments of aid to the injured from the location of a shell in a residential neighborhood in the city.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted sources in the opposition that the regime forces had completely taken control of the city of Saraqib. Syrian television also said that the regime forces had taken control of the villages and towns of Jobas, Dadekh, Kafr Katr, and Tarnbah in the vicinity of Saraqib.

In turn, the opposition said that it was engaged in confrontations it described as violent with the regime forces trying to advance towards the town of Efes (north of Saraqib).

The opposition forces stated that they destroyed the regime forces vehicles and armored vehicles on the two fronts of Jabal Al-Zawiya in the southern countryside of Idlib and Aleppo Al-Gharbi.

In another field development, sources told Al-Jazeera that 24 fighters from the Syrian armed opposition - including wounded - had arrived in the opposition areas in Aleppo countryside coming from the city of Al-Sanamayn in Daraa countryside, within the scope of a settlement with the regime, after confrontations in the city during the past two days.

The sources pointed out that the settlement negotiations with the regime led to the release of 52 members of the regime.

After the regime forces took control of the city of Sanameen, sources told the island that a number of other opposition fighters were negotiating the regime in the city in order to remain in it with a Russian guarantee.