Dozens of Turkish soldiers die in battle against the Syrian regime in Idlib

Several dozen Turkish soldiers died on Thursday during an intense battle with Damascus forces in the province of Idlib, in northwest Syria, the last region still under the control of Islamist militias that have taken up arms against the regime of Bachar al-Assad.

According to sources close to the Turkish Armed Forces in Efe, at least 30 Turkish military personnel were killed during an air attack by Syrian or Russian aircraft against Turkish troops fighting alongside the rebels.

The Turkish Government has called an emergency meeting to assess the situation, but has not yet provided information on the matter.

The governor of the Turkish province of Hatay, Rahmi Dogan, told NTV that hospitals in this region, which borders Syria, had received many Turkish soldiers seriously injured in an air strike in Idlib and that 22 soldiers had been killed.

Sources from opposition parties consulted by Efe, however, spoke of even higher numbers of casualties.

Several senior officials from different parties have cancelled their planned programme to attend extra-ordinary meetings, but in the absence of official data, uncertainty remains over the scale of the attack on Turkish forces stationed in Idlib.

Several media outlets had reported today that Turkish forces had assisted Syrian rebel militias in re-conquering the strategic town of Saraqeb, located on the road between Damascus and Aleppo, which was taken over by Syrian regime forces just three weeks ago.

Ankara has been urging Moscow to stop the advance of the Al-Assad regime for weeks, without success so far.

Since yesterday, a Russian delegation has been in Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in the Idlib area, but no details of these talks have been released.