Turkey should take into account that it will suffer too if it starts a large-scale operation in Syria’s Idlib, a Russian senator has warned. If Ankara hopes to get NATO backing for it, it will be disappointed, he added.
The already volatile situation in northwestern Syrian region significantly escalated after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed there by a Syrian airstrike on Thursday. Ankara called an emergency NATO meeting in response, and threatened to launch a large-scale military operation to force Syrian government forces out of the province.
Hopefully, the tension would be defused because a big war in the region “will end badly for everyone, including Turkey,” Vladimir Dzhabarov, the deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, commented.
“Turkey is not acting on its soil, but on the soil of another nation. So its hope that NATO would come to its defense seems groundless,” he said.
Also on rt.com NATO to hold emergency meeting at Turkey's request to discuss escalation in Idlib – secretary general“If the Turks bet on military force, that would be a really bad idea since winning such a war would be difficult,” he added. “Syria is not alone; it has allies in the Arab world, which will support it.”
Russia blamed the deaths of the Turkish troops on Ankara, saying it failed to warn Moscow that their soldiers were in the location of the airstrike and allowed them to mingle with ‘terrorist forces’ currently fighting against the Syrian government army.
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