ISTANBUL (AP) – A Turkish military operation in the northwestern state of Idlib on Saturday has left two soldiers dead and three others injured, Turkish officials say.
The attack came after an investigation and investigation into the Idlib de-escalation area, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement. It identified the dead soldiers as unsigned officers.
Idlib is the last stronghold of the Syrian civil war and its territories are under the control of Turkish and Russian troops.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a bomb blast on a Turkish road accident occurred on the road between Idlib and Binnish. He said the wounded soldiers were airlifted to Turkey by helicopter.
The Observatory said the attack was carried out by the Supporters of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Company, a militant group that has previously launched Turkish forces.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar later traveled to the Syrian border to meet with military officials.
Northwestern Syria has been embroiled in a series of armed conflicts since the ceasefire in March 2020 by Turkey and Russia, which support opposing sides in Syria’s civil war. The deal ended up frustrating the Russian-backed government in Idlib province.
The Syrian government, which has signed an agreement between Russia and Turkey, has promised to restore areas lost in the 10-year war.
There are about 4 million people in northwestern Syria, most of them displaced by the civil war that has killed half a million people and displaced half of the country’s 23 million people, including more than 5 million internally displaced persons.
In February last year at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed on a runway in Idlib, sparking a major retaliation against Turkey against militants.