Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara will do whatever is necessary to protect its forces caught in fighting in Syria‘s Idlib province.
“The situation (in Idlib) has become so complicated that at this moment our troops are in danger,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after talks near Moscow.
“We do not want this to continue. All necessary steps will be taken here as needed.”
Since late April, Syria and Russia have upped their bombardment of the jihadist-ruled Idlib region of some three million people, killing around 900 civilians.
Idlib sits on the Turkish border.
One of Turkey’s 12 observation posts set up along the front line between government forces and the jihadists and their rebel allies last year were surrounded by Syrian troops this week.