Turkey

A deadly attack on Turkish forces in Syria has brought Idlib’s crisis to a dangerous crossroads. In this Q&A, Crisis Group’s Turkey, Syria and Russia experts explain what happened and what’s at stake.

The Kremlin was scrambling Friday to reach a stopgap agreement with Ankara to halt fighting in northwest Syria amid growing fears that Russia and Turkey are on the brink of open warfare.

Russia accused Turkey on Thursday of providing artillery support to militants fighting the Syrian army and said militants briefly broke through Syrian military positions in Idlib, Russian news agencies reported.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said he would help Pakistan stay off a terrorism financing blacklist at a meeting of a global finance watchdog, a move he suggested would counter “political pressure” from Islamabad’s critics.

Syria and Turkey inched closer to all-out war Monday as their troops exchanged deadly fire for the second time in a matter of days in Idlib, a contested and ravaged northern province that is the last remaining major rebel redoubt in Syria’ s nearly nine-year war.

Ankara to protect civilians and prevent Idlib exodus, governing party MP says, as Syrian government attacks intensify.

Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said his alliance anticipated a direct Turkish intervention in Syria and claimed that Turkey had ‘coordinated’ with the Islamic State terrorist group, during an interview with the privately owned TeN satellite channel on Sunday.

Four Turkish soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack in northeast Syria on Wednesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement overnight.

“Turkey’s interference in the region creates a fertile environment for extremists and terrorist groups,” said the Observatory for Monitoring Takfiri Fatwas and Extremist Ideologies at Dar al-Ifta in a statement on Sunday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will increase its military support to Libya’s internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) if necessary and will evaluate military options there.