At least 33 Turkish soldiers were  killed in the Syrian province of Idlib today in an escalating confrontation between Russian-backed Syrian forces on one side and Turkish forces and their Sunni rebel allies on the other, marking the highest number of Turkish losses in a single day since the start of the civil conflict in Syria nine years ago.

The governor of the border province of Hatay who revealed the figures blamed the deaths on an air attack by the Syrian regime.

Speaking after an emergency national security meeting convened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun pledged that Turkey's soldiers would be avenged. "Our operations in the Syrian theater will continue until the blood soaked hands taking aim at our flag are broken. The decision to retaliate with far greater force against the illegitimate [Syrian] regime that pointed its guns at our soldiers has been made."

An unnamed Turkish official told the Reuters news agency that Turkey had decided to no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land or by sea. The move is widely seen as an attempt to pressure Western intervention in the conflict. Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin spoke to US national security advisor Robert O'Brien over the telephone and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made a seperate call to NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.