Fahri Aksut
22 February 2020•Update: 23 February 2020
ANKARA
A Turkish soldier was martyred in an attack by Assad regime forces in Idlib, northwestern Syria, the country’s National Defense Ministry Saturday said on Twitter.
Turkey retaliated to the attack with full force and 21 regime targets were heavily hit and destroyed, said the ministry in a series of tweets.
The ministry conveyed its condolences to the family of the martyred soldier and reiterated its commitment to give a befitting response to the Assad regime.
"The blood of our martyrs has never gone to waste and it never will. We wish Allah's mercy and grace for our hero soldier. We convey our deepest condolences to the family of the martyr and to the Turkish Armed Forces and our noble nation," the Defense Ministry said.
Turkey has swiftly retaliated to any attack, neutralizing hundreds of regime troops and targets, warning that it would not tolerate any Turkish soldiers coming to harm.
Syria has been mired in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN figures.
Idlib, near Turkey's southern border, falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018.
The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the territory where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
The de-escalation zone is currently home to about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-torn country.
Some 1 million Idlib refugees have moved towards the Turkish border in recent months, fleeing attacks by the Assad regime and its allies which caused a desperate humanitarian situation.
Turkey has called for an immediate halt to the attacks on Idlib, and for the cease-fire to be followed, warning that if the attacks do not stop, Turkey will act.
