Turkey responds to Syrian Government Fire at an Observation Post
Idlib – North-Press Agency
The Turkish Ministry of National Defence announced in a statement on Friday that the fire support units in the area had effectively shelled a Syrian government forces position that had earlier attacked the Turkish observation post No. 10 in Shir-Maghar northwestern Hama.
Regarding the details, North-Press correspondent reported that the Turkish forces targeted the sources of firing missiles from Karim and Qaber-Fidah checkpoints, which resulted in an explosion of a weapon depot in the latter.
While earlier, the Syrian government forces targeted the Turkish observation post in Shir-Maghar, killing one Turkish soldier and wounding three others.
In the same context, the Syrian government forces had targeted a Turkish helicopter arrived at the post to evacuate the dead and wounded Turkish soldiers.
Turkish Defense Ministry said late on Thursday that the three wounded soldiers were evacuated outside of Syria, confirming that Ankara has warned of responding “with the severest sanctions”.
The General Staff of Turkey also summoned the Russian attaché at Moscow’s embassy in Ankara and told them that the response to the attack would be “harsh”, stressing that the Ministry of Defense is closely monitoring the situation in Idlib.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry recently announced that its country is not seeking any armed confrontations with the Turkish army in Idlib, northern Syria, stressing that it will continue to eliminate the terrorist groups in Idlib, and all of the foreign armed groups illegally present in Syria should leave its territories.
The Turkish military has established 12 observation posts in north-western Syria as part of the September 2017 cease-fire agreement with Russia and Iran.