Attack in Idlib 'regime's provocation': Russian expert

MOSCOW

A Russian military expert called Monday Syrian regime's attack on Turkish soldiers in northwestern province of Idlib a "deliberate provocation" by the regime.

Last week, an attack by the Assad regime in Idlib martyred 34 Turkish soldiers, who were in the region to protect local civilians.

The situation got worse due to the "little lies" of some Russian officials, Pavel Felgenhauer, the military expert, said in an article in the Novaya Gazeta.

The expert also doubts about the Russian Defense Ministry statement that Turkey did not give the coordinations of its troops in Idlib to the Russian reconciliation center in Syria.

"Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar claimed that Turks passed coordinates and that when they [Turkish soldiers] were being killed, no outside Syrian opposition fighters were present at place, which seems to be true, because then there would have been wounded and killed Turks and Syrians, but there were only Turks.

"In addition, the Turkish military moved along the highway in a dense column and, obviously, were not deployed in any 'combat order' -- neither together with the 'terrorists' nor by themselves. If they were deployed and dispersed in a 'combat order', there would have been no such losses. So the 'combat order' was in fact [something] invented," Felgenhauer said.

The expert stressed that a Russian combat center located at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria has the complete control of the airspace over Idlib and the operational situation on the ground.

"It looks like the attack on the Turkish troops was a deliberate provocation by the Bashar al-Assad regime, which has long been trying to draw Russia into a direct confrontation with Turkey, and it was carried out with the complicity of Russian officials and command structures. A probability of corruption [at the Hmeimim airbase] should not be excluded as well," according to Felgenhauer.

Felgenhauer said he expects that a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ease tensions and result in a new cease-fire, that can start before March 8.

He also expects new provocations and regrets that nothing is heard about management reshuffle in the leadership of the Hmeimim airbase.

"Instead of a serious investigation into how and why the senseless and provocative attack on the Turkish column was inflicted, Moscow continues to boil over Russophobia," the Russian expert said.

Turkey on Sunday launched Operation Spring Shield after 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred in Idlib. Turkey’s only target during the operation is Assad regime soldiers and elements in Idlib under the nation's right to self-defense, stressed Akar.

The martyred Turkish soldiers were working to protect local civilians under a September 2018 deal with Russia, which prohibits acts of aggression in Idlib.

But more than 1,300 civilians have since been killed in attacks by Assad and Russian forces in the zone, as the cease-fire continues to be violated, sending about a million refugees towards Turkey's border with Syria.