Syria–Turkey border

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Feb. 11 vowed that the Syrian regime, which attacked Turkish troops in northwestern Syria's Idlib province, would pay a "heavy price."

The president also said he would announce a series of new steps on Feb. 12 that Turkey would take against Bashar al-Assad's regime over attacks on Turkish soldiers in Idlib.

Turkey said it retaliated on Feb. 10 after intense shelling by Syrian forces killed five soldiers and wounded five others in Syria's northern Idlib province, a marked escalation a week after a similarly deadly clash between the two sides.

Five Turkish soldiers were killed and five others were injured in a Syrian regime artillery attack in Idlib province of Syria, as the Turkish army retaliated against the regime forces, Turkey's Defense Ministry said on Feb. 10.

Syrian government troops entered a strategic town in the country's last rebel stronghold on Feb. 6 after fierce clashes with opposition fighters.

The Turkish and Russian military chiefs had a discussion of developments in Syria's Idlib province on the phone, the Turkish army said on Jan. 30.

Turkish Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler and his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov discussed the latest developments in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, the Turkish Armed Forces said on Twitter

Syrian regime forces on Jan. 28 entered a key rebel-held town in the country's northwest after surrounding it on three sides, sending thousands of people fleeing to safety in areas farther north, a war monitor and state media said.

A renewed drive by Bashar al-Assad regime to recapture rebel-held territory in Syria's northwest sparked a fresh exodus of many thousands of civilians toward Turkey's border on Jan. 28 amid heavy airstrikes, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 28.

The assault took place for the first time since a ceasefire agreed with Turkey came into force two days ago, witnesses and rebels sources said to Reuters.
They said the towns of Khan al Subl, Maasaran and several others in southern Idlib province were targeted after a two-day lull in aerial strikes against the last rebel bastion that had been bombed continuously for over a month.

A new cease-fire in an area of northwestern Syria rocked by violence is set to start just after midnight on Jan. 12, Turkey announced.

Turkey had pushed hard for the cease-fire, coming after Idlib, Syria endured months of battering by the Assad regime and its allies, sending about a million war-weary civilian refugees flocking to the Turkish border.

Over 20,000 civilians have fled Syria's northwestern region of Idlib to places near the Turkish border in the last two days, amid heightened bombardments by the Syrian regime and Russia, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 9.