ISLAMABAD – The UN is “alarmed” by recent clashes between Turkish andSyrian government forces in northwestern Syria and has called for a rapidde-escalation and a return to peaceful negotiations.
Speaking with reporters on Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned ofclashes between forces loyal to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Turkey, whichleft as many as six Turkish troops dead.
“We’re very much alarmed by the reports that we saw of clashes betweenSyrian government troops and Turkish forces in northwest Syria,” Dujarricsaid at UN headquarters in New York.
“I think this escalation underscores yet again the threat to regional andinternational peace and security caused by the ongoing conflict in Syria.”
Dujarric described ongoing contacts “at various levels” with officials inSyria, Turkey, Russia and other powers involved in Syria’s civil war, witha message to “de-escalate” and reduce the death toll in the northwesternprovince of Idlib.
“We also remain deeply concerned by the continuing reports of civiliancasualties and the large-scale displacement of civilians, resulting fromthe current Syrian Government offensive inside the de-escalation zone,”said Dujarric.
“The secretary-general [Antonio Guterres] reaffirms yet again that noattacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure should take place.”
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A total of 54 regime targets were hit and 76 regime soldiers neutralized bythe Turkish military, said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Monday.
Akar made the remarks after meeting with top commanders in a quicklyorganized trip to Turkey’s border with Syria in the wake of the regimeattack which left also at least seven troops wounded.
Idlib province is the last remaining stronghold for anti-government forcesin a war that began as a series of pro-democracy protests in 2011 butquickly turned into a multi-front melee involving local and foreignfighters of all stripes.
The province is home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds ofthousands displaced by fighting elsewhere.
Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 to turn Idlib into ade-escalation zone where acts of aggression were expressly prohibited. Asecond attempt to broker a ceasefire to begin on Jan. 12 also failed tohold. – Sputnik
