Erdogan renews threat to hit Syrian troops to stop advance in Idlib
The Turkish president has again warned Syria it has until the end of this month to halt its Russia-backed offensive against opposition forces that has pushed nearly a million people to the Turkish border.
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that time is running out for the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from areas around Turkish military outposts in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib or risk escalating a confrontation with Turkey as hundreds of thousands flee Russian and Syrian bombardment for the border.
The threat came as a Russian delegation held another round of talks in Ankara Wednesday on averting an all-out clash as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, supported by Russian firepower, continue to snatch territory in the Turkish-backed opposition’s last stronghold of Idlib.
At least 16 Turkish military personnel have been killed in Idlib since January. Turkish troops are in the border province manning a dozen observation posts set up under a deconfliction agreement with Russia that has all but collapsed since December. Some of those posts are now behind enemy lines.
More than 900,000 people, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children, have fled the fighting and another million people are in harm’s way, the United Nations has said. Those displaced are hemmed in by a closed Turkish border and exposed to harsh winter weather.
