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AFP / DPA
Beirut/Istanbul
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels recaptured a strategic town in the north-western province of Idlib that was taken over by government forces, a war monitor said on Thursday.
Opposition fighters took full control of Saraqib, which is located on a highway linking the capital Damascus and the northern province of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Saraqib was recaptured after fierce battles between government forces and rebels backed by Turkish artillery, according to the Britain-based watchdog. Saraqib is the second-largest city after Maaret al-Numaan in Idlib, Syria’s last rebel stronghold.
The National Liberation Front (NLP), which is backed by Turkey, said in a statement that Saraqib was “completely liberated.” “In Idlib, developments have turned to our advantage right now. ...
The regime forces have suffered a very big loss. Our struggle there continues,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara.
Syrian government forces and their allied militias had taken over Saraqib earlier this month as part of a massive military campaign in the region.
Three Turkish soldiers have been killed in an air strike in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
Turkey, which supports several rebel groups in the area, immediately responded to the attack by hitting Syrian “regime targets”, the Turkish defence ministry said on Twitter.
“We have three martyrs in Idlib, but the regime’s losses are very high,” Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, without giving details.
The death toll rose after the defence ministry earlier on Thursday said two soldiers had been killed and two had been injured in the Syrian region. The latest casualties have brought the number of Turkish security personnel killed in regime fire in Idlib this month to 20.
Despite the losses, Erdogan said developments in Idlib had taken a “favourable turn”.
Erdogan has given an end-of-the-month ultimatum for Syrian government forces to stop besieging Turkish observation posts in Idlib.
“Time’s almost up,” Erdogan said on Wednesday. “We plan to free our besieged observation towers, one way or another, by the end of this month,” he said, reiterating a threat to Damascus to retreat.
Several of Ankara’s observation posts - set up as part of an agreement with Moscow - are now behind Syrian government lines following gains by its army.
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28/02/2020
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