SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Two Turkish soldiers killed in Syria's Idlib
Ankara, March 19 (AFP) Mar 19, 2020
Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, the defence ministry said on Thursday, the country's first reported casualties since a ceasefire began earlier this month.

The ceasefire between rebel-backer Turkey and regime-ally Russia was agreed in Idlib -- the last Syrian outpost out of the control of President Bashar al-Assad's forces -- and entered into force on March 6 since when it has largely held.

The defence ministry blamed the rocket attack on "some radical groups in the region," without elaborating further, adding that the army retaliated by hitting specified targets.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkish army suffered casualties when two explosive charges exploded while a Turkish military convoy was passing on the strategic M4 highway.

Ankara hopes the ceasefire will stem a months-long government assault on the jihadist-dominated region, which is home to some three million people.

The observatory said on Tuesday that four regime fighters and a rebel were killed in clashes in southern Idlib.

Nearly a million in Idlib were forced to flee towards the Turkish border during a regime-led offensive underway since December, which killed around 500 civilians.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
Sun boundary map tracks shifting Alfven surface over solar cycle
Mission Space to fly second space weather payload with Rogue Space

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Molecular contacts push tandem solar cells to 31.4 percent efficiency
Asymmetric side chain design boosts thick film organic solar cell efficiency
New analysis links lead cooled reactor corrosion to steel microstructure

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus

24/7 News Coverage
UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation's Climate Impact
Digital twin successfully launched and deployed into space
Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.