Turkey strikes Syria || Weekly News

On Monday, the Syrian army repelled the terrorist counter-attack near the city of Sarakib, in the province of Idlib. The terrorists tried to regain the positions that they lost during the Syrian offensive. The Syrian army repelled the attacks, and liberated an another village near the city of Sarakib. The settlement of Talhia, located 3 km away from the former military airport ‘Taftanaz’, was liberated by the government forces. The ‘Al-Hadath’ TV reported that the Turkish troops provided fire support to the terrorists. According to the ‘Al-Hadath’ TV — the Syrian artillery fired at the airfield. The command post of the armed groups of the Syrian opposition and the observation post of the Turkish troops are located at the airport. According to the Syrian mass media — the government forces fired back after the Turkish artillery attack.

The ‘Al Jazeera TV’ reports that the Turkish artillery shelled the city of Sarakib and the nearby areas where the Syrian troops are stationed. The shelling was carried out from heavy artillery pieces. It was also reported that «The Syrian opposition fighters, under the cover of the Turkish artillery, started large-scale offensive operations against the Syrian government forces in the east of Idlib province». The city of Sarakib was liberated by the Syrian army during the last week, on Thursday.

5 Turkish soldiers died, 5 were injured during a shelling in the Syrian Idlib, on Monday. According to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense — the Syrian government forces carried out an intensive artillery shelling. In response, Turkey attacked 115 targets of the Syrian army. This was reported by the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey. Ankara announced that Turkey does not intend to abandon the observation posts in the de-escalation zone in Syrian Idlib, despite the death of the Turkish servicemen. During the talks with the Russian delegation, Turkey announced to Russia that it is necessary to stop the attacks of Syrian troops on the Turkish observation posts in the Syrian province of Idlib.

Alexei Yerkhov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, reported about personal threats due to the escalation in Syrian Idlib — the ‘RIA NEWS’ reports. The diplomat noted that the recent events in the Syrian province have caused anti-Russian hysteria in the Turkish social networks. On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia considers it unacceptable for the Turkish politicians to use the tragic events in Idlib to make provocative comments, since it doesn’t contribute to the settlement of the situation. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted in such way to the statements of the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli, on 11th of February, during a meeting of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Turkish politician “tried to hold Russia and the Syrian government responsible for the deaths of the Turkish troops in Syria. He called on the country’s leadership to radically reconsider the Russian-Turkish relations».

The ‘Sabah’ newspaper reports, while citing the Turkish General Staff, that the Turkish forces launched rocket attacks on a number of Syrian army positions west of Aleppo. The attacks were carried out from MLRS on Wednesday. As a result, 55 Syrian troops were neutralized. The type of the targets of the attack wasn’t specified. Earlier, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara is determined to push the Syrian troops away from the Turkish observation posts in the Syrian province of Idlib until the end of February. He also mentioned that in case of an attack on the Turkish military — Turkey will retaliate against the positions of the Syrian troops «even outside the territories, stipulated in the ‘Sochi memorandum’ «.

The ‘SANA’ news agency reports that on Friday night the Syrian air defenses repelled a missile strike on Damascus. According to the SANA — the Syrian military managed to shot down several targets. It was noted that the attacks were carried out by planes that were coming from above the territory of the Golan Heights, currently occupied by Israel, in the south-west of the country. Israel hasn’t commented on this information yet. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS