33 Turkish Soldiers Dead in Syrian Airstrike // FAI ONLINE

At least 33 Turkish soldiers are dead and another 36 wounded after a Syrian Army airstrike in Idlib province. The deadly incident is a major escalation in the ongoing battle for the last rebel-held enclave of Syria, where a regime offensive against opposition forces provoked a Turkish counter-offensive earlier this month.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan held an emergency meeting with his cabinet shortly after the strike, followed by a series of Turkish counter-attacks against Syrian military positions. The leader of the Islamist AKP party in Turkey declared in a press statement that all Syrian regime positions are now legitimate targets, dramatically expanding the scope of the conflict. Social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram were also shut down by Internet service providers across Turkey, as the government feared public backlash against Erdogan’s program of foreign interventionism.

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The extent of fallout from the strike remains to be seen, as officials within Erdogan’s government are in talks with the Trump Administration and NATO regarding the incident. Erdogan’s government has previously appealed to NATO to take a stronger stance in Idlib, requesting Patriot missile batteries and a no-fly zone in support of a larger Turkish operation. Although no commitment has been made by partner nations as of yet, NATO secretary general Stoltenburg has condemned the Syrian and Russian offensive in Idlib, showing alignment with the Turkish position.

The Idlib counter-offensive is the fourth Turkish incursion into Syria in partnership with rebel groups, many of which are offshoots of al-Qaeda. Previously, Erdogan has orchestrated the occupation of Kurdish territory in the Afrin and Tel Abyad regions, resettling Arab refugees in Kurdish-majority towns and villages in an attempt to reshape the demography of the border region.