QAMINAS: Tensions escalated Tuesday between Syria’s regime and rebel-backerTurkey as a Syrian military helicopter was shot down and Ankara warned of a”heavy price” for any attacks on its forces.
The new flare-up — a day after regime shelling killed five Turkish troops —came as government forces battling rebels in northwestern Syria took fullcontrol of a key highway linking the country’s four largest cities.
The advance marked another step in President Bashar al-Assad’s campaign toretake Syria’s last rebel-held pocket, where nearly 700,000 civilians havefled violence since December in the largest exodus since the start of thewar.
Shortly after the M5 motorway was recaptured, a rocket attack downed aSyrian regime helicopter in Idlib province, killing both pilots, an AFPcorrespondent and a war monitor said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the helicopterwas hit by a rocket fired by Turkish forces, though Ankara did not claimresponsibility.
An AFP correspondent saw the bodies of the two pilots and the mangledremains of the helicopter at the site of the crash near the village ofQaminas, southeast of Idlib city.
Regime forces later shelled areas near a Turkish observation post in thesame village, said the Observatory and an AFP correspondent who saw largeplumes of smoke rising following a large fiery blast.
The Observatory said the attack killed at least three people but itremained to be seen whether they were Syrian rebels or Turkish troops.’They will pay’
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Turkey — which has troops deployed in several locations in northern Syria —continues to support rebel groups battling the Assad regime or acting asproxies against Kurdish forces.
Along with regime ally Russia, it is the key foreign broker in northernSyria but a 2018 deal aimed at averting a major offensive has failed totake hold.
On Tuesday, Erdogan said Turkish troops would continue to respond to Syrianregime attacks. “The more they attack… our soldiers, they will pay avery, very heavy price,” he told a televised ceremony in Ankara.
Erdogan said he would reveal his next steps on Wednesday.
The Syrian army hit back in a later statement saying it was “ready torespond to the aggressions of the occupying Turkish army”, accusing Ankaraof targeting its positions with rockets.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would work with Turkey onits response to Monday’s attack. “The ongoing assaults by the Assad regimeand Russia must stop,” Pompeo said on Twitter. -APP/AFP
