After Soldier’s Death, Turkey Shells Syria’s Tall Rifat

: Internally displaced Syrians carry their belongings as they arrive at a refugee camp near the Bab al-Salam crossing, across from Turkey's Kilis province, on the outskirts of the northern border town of Azaz, Syria February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
: Internally displaced Syrians carry their belongings as they arrive at a refugee camp near the Bab al-Salam crossing, across from Turkey's Kilis province, on the outskirts of the northern border town of Azaz, Syria February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
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After Soldier’s Death, Turkey Shells Syria’s Tall Rifat

: Internally displaced Syrians carry their belongings as they arrive at a refugee camp near the Bab al-Salam crossing, across from Turkey's Kilis province, on the outskirts of the northern border town of Azaz, Syria February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
: Internally displaced Syrians carry their belongings as they arrive at a refugee camp near the Bab al-Salam crossing, across from Turkey's Kilis province, on the outskirts of the northern border town of Azaz, Syria February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

Retaliating to earlier attacks staged by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG), Turkish forces shelled Syria’s Tall Rifat city which is nestled in the northern Aleppo province.

In a statement released on Monday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said the country’s army forces successfully bombed YPG Kurdish sites in response to an attack that targeted Ankara military assets in Syria and which killed a Turkish soldier.

The ministry went on to confirm that not only one soldier was killed, but six others were injured by the attack. Victims were cleared from the area.

By far, this marks the heaviest toll incurred by a Turkey observation post set up in north Syria.

Back in 2017, Turkey and Russia had agreed to establish observation posts overlooking designated de-escalation zones in Syria’s north, especially in Idlib.

A military statement said it responded to the anti-tank attack by firing at militants in the region.

With the collapse of the declared truce in Hama and Idlib in recent weeks, Turkish observation posts have been the target of military escalation on behalf of the Russian-backed Syria regime and the YPG.
It is worth noting that the Syrian regime scaled up the bombing of Turkey-backed rebels in the Idlib region.

An agreement between Turkey and Russia, signed in September 2018 at the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, was intended to spare opposition forces in Idlib and its environs from regime attacks. But Russia, the Syrian regime’s major power backer, is accusing Ankara of failing to meet its obligations under the agreement as a rebel guarantor, especially with regard to the redeployment of hardline groups from some of the north’s main infrastructure.

Despite the resumed violence on behalf of the Syrian regime, it does not seem as though Russia will be allowing the military offensive to go into full-throttle in Idlib—a total breakout of violence in Syria’s northern areas would leave Turkey's southern borders in dismay.

In the same context, the United Nations warned that up to 2 million Syrians might flee to Turkey if the fighting raged in northwestern Syria.



Türkiye Backing Syria’s Military and Has No Immediate Withdrawal Plans, Defense Minister Says 

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Backing Syria’s Military and Has No Immediate Withdrawal Plans, Defense Minister Says 

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Türkiye is training and advising Syria's armed forces and helping improve its defenses, and has no immediate plans for the withdrawal or relocation of its troops stationed there, Defense Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters.

Türkiye has emerged as a key foreign ally of Syria's new government since opposition groups - some of them backed for years by Ankara - ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December to end his family's five-decade rule.

It has promised to help rebuild neighboring Syria and facilitate the return of millions of Syrian civil war refugees, and played a key role last month getting US and European sanctions on Syria lifted.

The newfound Turkish influence in Damascus has raised Israeli concerns and risked a standoff or worse in Syria between the regional powers.

In written answers to questions from Reuters, Guler said Türkiye and Israel, which carried out its latest airstrikes on southern Syria late on Tuesday, are continuing de-confliction talks to avoid military accidents in the country.

Türkiye’s overall priority in Syria is preserving its territorial integrity and unity, and ridding it of terrorism, he said, adding Ankara was supporting Damascus in these efforts.

"We have started providing military training and consultancy services, while taking steps to increase Syria's defense capacity," Guler said, without elaborating on those steps.

Named to the post by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan two years ago, Guler said it was too early to discuss possible withdrawal or relocation of the more than 20,000 Turkish troops in Syria.

Ankara controlled swathes of northern Syria and established dozens of bases there after several cross-border operations in recent years against Kurdish militants it deems terrorists.

This can "only be re-evaluated when Syria achieves peace and stability, when the threat of terrorism in the region is fully removed, when our border security is fully ensured, and when the honorable return of people who had to flee is done," he said.

NATO member Türkiye has accused Israel of undermining Syrian peace and rebuilding with its military operations there in recent months and, since late 2023, has also fiercely criticized Israel's assault on Gaza.

But the two regional powers have been quietly working to establish a de-confliction mechanism in Syria.

Guler described the talks as "technical level meetings to establish a de-confliction mechanism to prevent unwanted events" or direct conflict, as well as "a communication and coordination structure".

"Our efforts to form this line and make it fully operational continue. Yet it should not be forgotten that the de-confliction mechanism is not a normalization," he told Reuters.