Six Turkish soldiers and at least 13 Syrian government troops have been killed as the two sides traded fire in Syria’s Idlib province, in a significant escalation in the battle to control the country’s last opposition stronghold.

Turkey sent a large military convoy across its southern border into Idlib overnight in an effort to stem the bloodshed caused by a ferocious regime assault on the areaunder the cover of Russian airstrikes.

Approximately 390,000 people, 80% of whom are women and children, have fled their homes since 1 December, the UN says, and another 400,000 have been driven to the Turkish border since April.

Artillery shelling on Turkish positions near the flashpoint town of Saraqeb early on Monday caused six casualties and injured seven more soldiers, the Turkish defence ministry said, adding that 30-35 troops fighting for Bashar al-Assad had been killed in retaliatory attacks. The war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of Syrian dead at 13, while the Syrian state news agency reported zero casualties.

Damascus and Moscow say the HTS takeover legitimises the campaign against Idlib as they are targeting terrorists not covered by the ceasefire deal who have bolstered attacks on government-held Aleppo.

Aid agencies and rescue workers, however, say airstrikes have demolished dozens of hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, and warn that Idlib’s population of 3 million is at risk of the conflict’s biggest humanitarian crisis yet.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/turkish-soldiers-killed-battle-syria-idlib-assad