Turkey shells Syria’s northern Idlib province
BEIRUT — Turkish forces on Sunday shelled areas along its border with Syria’s northwestern province, an area dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants, as Turkey’s president says an operation in the area to enforce a “de-escalation” zone was underway “without problems.”
Speaking Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the de-escalation zones would be applied in Idlib with “Russia outside, Turkey inside” with Syrian opposition fighters it backs.
“The process, which began with a step yesterday and started to be applied this morning, is continuing as you know and that effort is continuing in a calm way without problems” Erdogan said, speaking in the western province of Afyonkarahisar at the closing ceremony of his ruling party’s conference.
Earlier Sunday, Mustafa Sejari, spokesman for a Turkey-backed Syrian armed group, said Turkish artillery responded with shells after coming under attack from al-Qaida-linked fighters across the border. Turkey’s private Dogan news agency reported that Turkey fired seven howitzer rounds into Idlib on Sunday.