Syrian-Turkish clashes

Top diplomats from Turkey, Iran and Russia held a teleconference on April 22 and discussed developments in Syria, particularly in Idlib province and the east of River Euphrates amid growing concerns for the future of a fragile ceasefire in the former.

Turkey's military will patrol to the north of a security corridor being set up around a highway in northwest Syria's Idlib province and Russian forces will patrol the southern side, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 10.

Turkish and Russian delegations are set to meet in Moscow on February 17 amid escalated tension in the Syrian province of Idlib where the Turkish and Syrian military forces pit against each other with concerns of fresh armed conflicts between the two.

Amid heightened tensions between Ankara and Damascus, Turkey's Defense Ministry has vowed to respond to any attack against Turkish observation posts in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.

During a briefing at the ministry, military sources told state-run Anadolu Agency that Turkey will respond to any attack against its observation posts in the most "intense way as possible."

Turkey responded in kind to a regime attack against a Turkish army convoy in Syria's Idlib and would not tolerate any future Syrian attack on its troops, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Feb. 4, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of "increasing insolence."