Syrian army imposes no-fly-zone over Idlib

The Syrian army announced on Sunday that it was imposing a no-fly-zone over the country's Idlib province, saying any hostile aircraft will be targeted, a move that came a day after Turkish drones killed 26 Syrian soldiers. The airspace over northwestern Syria, particularly Idlib, is closed to any flight or drones and any aircraft violating the airspace will be dealt with as a hostile target and will be shot down, Xinhua news agency quoted state media as saying. On Saturday, the Turkish drones targeted the Syrian government forces and vehicles in Idlib, a day after 48 Syrian soldiers were killed by similar attacks in the province.

The escalation in the Turkish attacks on Syrian forces come after an attack that killed 34 Turkish soldiers on Thursday, which was blamed on the Syrian government forces. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkish drones also destroyed 18 Syrian vehicles. The Observatory said the Turkish forces have brought in reinforcement into Syria.

Around 3,000 military vehicles and 8,000 Turkish soldiers have entered the Syrian territories since February 2. Over the past two days, several Turkish military vehicles and soldiers entered Syria as the Turkish deadline given to the Syrian soldiers to withdraw from Turkish observation points is February 29. The deadline was announced earlier by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who demanded the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Syrian areas where Turkish observation points are located.

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