Intel: Deadly airstrike on Turkish convoy tests Ankara-Moscow ties
Syrian jets hit a Turkish military convoy today in Syria’s Idlib, killing three civilians and injuring 12 others in an attack that likely could not have occurred without Moscow's knowledge.
Three civilians died and 12 others were injured when Syrian air force jets struck a Turkish military convoy today in Syria’s Idlib province, Turkey’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement today.
The convoy was headed toward Turkish observation post number nine in Morek, the buffer zone it mans in the rebel-held province. Turkey has 12 such posts under the terms of the Sochi agreement struck with Moscow in September 2018 to dislodge the rebels and their weapons from the demarcated zone. Turkey did not provide any details about the identity of the victims. Rebel sources said one commander from the Sunni Islamist alliance Faylaq al-Sham was killed, while two other of the group's commanders were injured. Neither claim could be independently verified.
The Syrian Arab Army has been trying to wrest back Idlib in a new and concerted push launched in May, putting Turkish forces at risk, displacing thousands of civilians and wounding and killing hundreds of others. Idlib borders Turkey and is largely controlled by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Turkey did not say who had carried out the strike. But in a veiled rebuke to the Kremlin, it said that operations were being carried out by regime forces in violation of agreements reached with Russia and causing huge harm to civilians. The violations were continuing, the statement continued, despite Turkey’s repeated warnings to Russian Federation officials. Turkey said it reserves the right to retaliate.
