Erdogan accused Russia of striking the civilians

1 Syria

The ‘SANA’ news agency reports, while citing their source in the Syrian military: the Syrian military confirmed the previously published information about a helicopter that was shot down on Tuesday. «One of our combat helicopters was hit by an enemy missile in the air over the Nairab region, in the south of the Idlib province, in which the terrorist organizations, supported by Turkey, are active.» — the ‘SANA’ quoted their source. The crew — two pilots — died.

2 Syria

The US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced on Twitter that the US Special Representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, will go to Turkey to coordinate the actions of Ankara and Washington in response to the shelling of the Turkish military by the Syrian army. He called for an end of the attacks in Idlib, which, according to Michael Pompeo, are carried out by Syria and Russia. The Ministry of National Defense of Turkey reported the neutralization of 51 Syrian servicemen in Idlib. The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, said during an interview to the ‘Associated Press’ that Damascus took control over 4 out of 12 Turkish observation posts in the Idlib province. Hulusi Akar underlined that Ankara does not intend to retreat from its positions in Idlib. The ‘SANA’ news agency published a statement of the Syrian army command that announced the following: “the Syrian forces continue to fulfill their constitutional and national tasks. They are ready to respond to the attacks of the Turkish occupation forces».

3 Syria

The ‘Sky News Arabia’ TV reports that on Wednesday Turkey sent additional military forces to Syria, which crossed the Syrian border at dawn, and moved towards the western regions of the Aleppo province. According to the ‘Sky News Arabia’ — the Turkish forces are building a new observation point, which will be located on the road between the settlements of Atarib and Al-Jin.

4 Turkey — Russia

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had a telephone conversation with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan — they discussed various aspects of the Syrian settlement, including the context of the possible escalation in the Idlib de-escalation zone. “The importance of the full implementation of the existing Russian-Turkish agreements, including the ‘Sochi memorandum’ of 17th of September of 2018, was noted as well” — the Kremlin Press Service reported. The parties agreed to conduct additional contacts via the relevant departments. The negotiations were initiated by Turkey. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, reported on Wednesday that the Turkish delegation intends to travel to Russia, during the coming days, in order to discuss the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib.

5 Turkey

On Wednesday, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Russian and Syrian military are targeting civilians in the Idlib province instead of the terrorists. «Turkey will no longer put up with any violation of the ceasefire in Idlib» — Erdogan said and added that from now on «the aviation that attacks the settlements in Idlib will no longer be able to operate freely, as it was before». The Turkish president also said that 14 Turkish soldiers were killed as a result of 2 shelling of the positions of the Turkish forces in the Syrian province of Idlib. Erdogan confirmed the possibility of telephone conversations with the US President, Donald Trump, on the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib. A spokesman of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, responded to the Erdogan’s accusations that the Syrian army in Idlib is attacking the terrorists, and their goal is to neutralize the aggressive activities of the terrorist groups.