Turkey dismissed on Saturday Russian accusations that it has flouted de-escalation agreements with Russia and Iran in Syria’s Idlib province, and threatened to take military action in the area if diplomatic efforts with Moscow fail.
Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria’s war, agreed in 2018 to set up a de-escalation zone in the northwestern province.
But their fragile cooperation has been disrupted by a Syrian government offensive in Idlib, in which 13 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the past two weeks.
Ankara has said it will use military power to drive back the Syrian forces unless they withdraw by the end of February, and President Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey will strike government forces anywhere in Syria if another Turkish soldier was hurt.
Erdogan discussed the situation in separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, but there was no immediate word of a diplomatic breakthrough.
Russia, which has poured military forces into Idlib, has aggravated the situation and failed to neutralize militants there.
But Turkey blames the situation on the advances by Syrian government forces in Idlib.
Ankara has been angered by the seizure by Syrian government forces of Turkish military observation posts established in Idlib under the 2018 deal.
Syrian state media said Syrian troops had began clearing barricades from a highway between Damascus and Aleppo after recovering full control of the road for the first time in more than seven years.
Syrian state media also reported advances by Syrian government forces towards rebel-held Atarib, some 24 km west of Aleppo, and three towns to its northwest.
On Friday, Turkish and Syrian state media reported Turkish-backed Syrian rebels shot down a government helicopter west of Aleppo in the Idlib region.
