1. #346

  2. #347
    MVC Lid

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    11.651
    20-04-2015

    Dozens of Turkish soldiers killed in strike in Idlib in Syria

    US condemns attack which Turkish official says killed 33 of its soldiers, in Ankara’s worst day of the conflict so far

    Bethan McKernan in Istanbul

    Fri 28 Feb 2020 06.50 GMT
    First published on Thu 27 Feb 2020 22.44 GMT

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    Turkish troops in Syria
    Turkish troops in northern Syria this week, where the country is now clashing with Assad regime forces. Photograph: Aref Tammawi/AFP via Getty Images

    Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold.

    Turkish officials said at least 33 of its military personnel were killed in the attack on Thursday night, and more than 30 others injured. Military sources among moderate and jihadist rebel factions fighting in the north-western province bordering Turkey said the deaths followed a precision strike on a two-storey building in the village of Balioun.

    A Turkish convoy, part of reinforcements sent to the area to aid rebel groups earlier this month, was subjected to heavy shelling on Thursday morning. The soldiers had taken cover in Balioun, basing themselves in the local council building.

    Rahmi Dogan, the local governor of the south-eastern Turkish province of Hatay on the border with Idlib, said ambulances streamed from a Syrian border crossing to a hospital in the nearby town of Reyhanli on Thursday night.

    Turkish officials have blamed the Syrian regime for the attack, but several sources in Idlib and unverified footage of the nighttime strike suggested it had been carried out by the Russian air force, which has helped Damascus conduct a ferocious three-month-old offensive on Idlib.

    Russia’s defence ministry denied on Friday that its planes had carried out the airstrikes but said Turkish troops should not have been in the Idlib area and had given no warning of their presence to the Syrian government. Russia also accused rebels of trying to launch an anti-government offensive on Thursday.

    In a further escalation, Russia said it was sending two frigates armed with cruise missiles to the Mediterranean Sea off the Syrian coast, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

    After the attack in Idlib, the United Nations called for urgent action in north-west Syria, warning that “the risk of greater escalation grows by the hour”.

    Nearly a million civilians have been displaced in Idlib near the Turkish border since December as Russia-backed Syrian government forces seized territory from Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, marking the worst humanitarian crisis of the country’s nine-year war.

    Although Ankara and Moscow share important trade, energy and defence links, the relationship has already been sorely tested by the recent violence in Syria, where they back opposing sides.

    Turkey responded with airstrikes on “all known” Syrian government targets, said the country’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, early on Friday, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. Altun said authorities had decided to respond in kind to the attack.

    “All known targets of the regime have come and will continue to come under fire from the air and ground,” Altun said in a statement.

    “We urge the international community to fulfil its responsibilities” to stop the regime’s “crimes against humanity”, he said. “We cannot stand by and watch as past events in Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are repeated today in Idlib.”

    Turkey’s activities on the ground in Syria would continue, he added.

    The US state department has said it is very concerned about the attack. “We stand by our Nato ally Turkey and continue to call for an immediate end to this despicable offensive by the Assad regime, Russia and Iranian-backed forces,” a spokesperson said.

    Nato said it was calling a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the request of Turkey to discuss the Syria situation.

    The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chaired an emergency security meeting overnight, Turkish officials briefed reporters that Ankara had decided it would no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land and sea – a move calibrated to win EU and Nato support for its operation in Idlib. https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ia-reports-say

  3. #348
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    11.651
    20-04-2015

    Putin and Erdoğan agree Syria ceasefire after last-ditch talks

    Russian and Turkish leaders say a security corridor will be set up in Idlib to end fighting and help civilians

    Associated Press in Ankara

    Fri 6 Mar 2020 01.04 GMT
    First published on Thu 5 Mar 2020 09.54 GMT

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    Vladimir Putin (left) and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
    Vladimir Putin (left) and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have met repeatedly in recent years to coordinate their moves in Syria. Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

    The presidents of Russia and Turkey have reached agreement on a ceasefire to begin at midnight Thursday in north-western Syria, where escalating fighting has threatened to put forces from the two countries into direct conflict.

    The deal struck by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after talks in Moscow on Thursday would also set up a security corridor along a key east-west highway in Idlib province.

    Putin voiced hope the agreement would serve as a good basis for ending the fighting in the Idlib de-escalation zone, put an end to suffering of civilian population and contain a growing humanitarian crisis.

    The agreement appears to achieve Russia’s key goal of allowing the Syrian government to secure control over strategic highways essential for consolidating its grip on the country after a devastating nine-year war.

    But in a nod to Turkey’s interests, the deal also puts the brakes on the push by Syrias president, Bashar Assad, to reclaim control over all of Idlib province, the last opposition-controlled region that borders Turkey.

    Erdoğan said he and Putin agreed to help refugees return to their homes. More than 900,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since Assad’s forces began an offensive in December backed by Russian airstrikes.

    Both leaders had underlined the need for an agreement at the start of the Kremlin talks, which lasted more than six hours. One goal had been to prevent damaging their bilateral relations and blossoming trade.

    Vladimir Frolov, an independent Russian foreign affairs analyst, said: “The main problem in Idlib is the desire of president Bashar al-Assad ... to establish full control of the area and block the border with Turkey, while also having pushed 3 million of the Sunni population, unfriendly to Assad, out on to Turkish soil.”

    The fight in the province, the last opposition-controlled region in Syria, has been catastrophic for the population. Nearly 1 million people have fled their homes since the latest offensive began on 1 December, in the largest single wave of displacement since the start of the civil war nine years ago.

    With nowhere to go, many have crowded at the border with Turkey, which hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees and refuses to allow others in.
    0:46
    Aerial footage shows queues near Greek-Turkish border – video

    It has also brought Turkey, a Nato member, dangerously close to war with Russia. In the past month, Syrian and Turkish troops have repeatedly clashed, killing scores on both sides.

    For Turkey, which has sent thousands of troops to Syria in the past few weeks, the intervention has been disastrous: 58 soldiers were killed in the past month, including 33 in an airstrike last week.

    In response, Erdoğan threw open Turkey’s borders with Greece and said he would no longer prevent migrants and refugees from entering Europe. Some European leaders have accused him of trying to blackmail the west into backing Turkey.

    Analysts suggested the move showed Erdoğan’s desperation – especially after he failed to get assistance from Nato – and was likely to backfire as dramatic scenes reminiscent of the 2015 migrant crisis played out at the edge of Europe.

    Ahmet Kasim Han, a professor of international relations at Altinbas University in Istanbul, said: “The Turkish side was compelled by necessity, in the hope that the pressure created as such would twist Europe’s arm.”

    In a sign of heightened tensions in Turkey, a brawl erupted in parliament on Wednesday after an opposition MP accused the president of disrespecting soldiers.
    0:43
    Brawl erupts in Turkish parliament over military involvement in Syria – video

    Erdoğan and Putin have met repeatedly in recent years to coordinate their moves in Syria. In September 2018, they struck a de-escalation deal on Idlib that averted a Syrian offensive. The agreement created a security zone free from heavy weapons that was monitored by Turkish troops. But the pact ultimately collapsed.

    In October, an agreement between the two leaders carved up the zone further east along the border, with each deploying forces to fill the void after Donald Trump’s order to withdraw US forces there.

    Erdoğan’s main goal was to prevent a fresh wave of refugees entering Turkey. His biggest leverage with Putin is Moscow’s desire for strong ties with Turkey to counterbalance US influence in the region.

    Putin had signalled Russia’s willingness to accommodate Turkish security concerns. Having secured Moscow’s interests and those of his Syrian allies by recapturing key cities as well as gas and phosphate reserves, he could afford to appease Erdoğan to some extent on Idlib. https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...yria-ceasefire