On Wednesday, President Tayyip Erdogan said the United States had not yet provided support to Turkey in Syria’s Idlib region and that he would need to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump about the issue again.
Speaking to reporters on his return flight from Azerbaijan, Erdogan said that he was told Washington did not have any Patriot defense systems to give Turkey for now.
Meanwhile, a meeting between Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is expected to take place to find a political solution to the Idlib crisis.
“We will not take a smallest step back in Idlib, we will certainly push the Syrian government outside the borders we designated, and ensure the return of the people to their homes,” Erdogan told ruling party’s lawmakers in parliament in Ankara.
As part of deals with Russia, Turkey has 12 observation posts in Idlib but several have come under fire from Assad forces.
Ankara has confirmed as many as 17 Turkish security personnel have been killed this month alone.
Erdogan bluntly warned the Syrian regime to “stop its attacks as soon as possible” and to pull back by the end of February.
“The time we have given to those who besieged our observation towers is running out,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan added that “the biggest problem we currently have is that we cannot use the air space” over Idlib which is controlled by Russia.
In a statement read on public television, the Syrian army on Wednesday announced it had “regained control” of a dozen of areas in recent days, including Kafranbel in the south of Idlib, a town known to have been among the first to rebel against Damascus.
The army vowed to “liberate the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic from terrorism and its supporters.”
A Russian delegation was due to hold another round of talks with Turkish officials in Ankara Wednesday.
