Northwestern Syria offensive

He stressed that the Alliance supports Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged a phone call on February 28 and agreed to meet in-person very soon and to discuss new measures to de-escalate tension in the Idlib province of Syria as the Syrian regime killed 33 Turkish troops in an attack.

The deadly attack on Turkish troops took place although the location of our forces was known by Russia, Turkey's defense minister said on Feb. 28.

"This attack occurred even though the locations of our troops had been coordinated with Russian officials in the field," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters in Hatay, a southern Turkish province bordering Syria.     

Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official said, as Ankara responded on Feb. 29 to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Feb. 27 reiterated his call for an "immediate ceasefire" in northwestern Syria following a deadly airstrike by Syrian regime forces on Turkish troops in Idlib province.

Shelling and airstrikes by Syrian regime forces killed at least three people on Feb. 26 in northwestern Syria, where dozens of villages, including major rebel strongholds in the last opposition-held area, have been captured over the past few days.

Syrian regime forces recaptured the symbolic town of Kafranbel in Idlib province, one of the first cities to rebel against the Damascus regime, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Feb. 25 the Syrian regime will not be able to achieve a military victory and the recent offensive in Idlib only heightens the risks of conflict with Turkey.

According to "Russia Today", the Turkish-funded militants have been targeting Syrian army positions.
The Russian ministry adds that Turkish forces ceased the attack after Moscow made contact with Ankara.
Turkey should suspend support for "terrorist groups" in Syria's Idlib province, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

Turkey's Defense Ministry announced on Feb. 20 that two Turkish soldiers were killed and five more were wounded in an air strike in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.