Hostilities between Syria and Turkey has resulted in 33 Turkish soldiers killed in a Syrian air attack in the Idlib province in the north-west. The governor in the southwestern Hatay said on Friday that as the death toll rises, it also increases skirmishes and an impending refugee crisis.
This was the most casualties suffered by Turkey in one day, from the time Turkish troops were sent into Idlib in recent weeks. Even with a Syrian offensive that is backed by Russia, to recapture the last opposition bastion, living there are three million people at the mercy of war.
A combine bombing and ground attack with ferocity in their conduct, have removed more than one million people as refugees from December wherein most of them are children, not adults.
Turkey reciprocated by warning it will strike back at Syrian Targets of the Syrian regime.
Escalating conflict and threat of more violent attacks between them and more destruction prompted the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to say hostilities were of concern and a ceasefire should be agreed upon.
The UN Secretary-General expressed that increased conflict will add by the hour if no action is taken to resolve their differences.
Later, the US State Department related that the Syrian attack is of concern, and said the US will support Turkey as their NATO (North Atlantic treaty Organization) partner and ally.
Spokesman of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg sent a press statement that condemned the airstrikes by the Syrian government and their Russian partners who were involved in the air attack.
The Hatay governor Rahmi Dogan of the southeastern province of Hatay, when interviewed on TV said that 22 soldiers were slain in the attack.
In a phone call, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with NATO secretary Stoltenberg, which was reported by the state media, no exact details were given of the conversation.
Retaliating for the attack at Idlib, the Turks fired artillery barrages that struck Syrian targets back.
In a statement from Turkey's communications director Fahrettin Altun, he remarked that identified Syrian government targets are under fire by Turkish air and land support teams.
Responding to the Syria government attack on Turkish positions, Altun reaffirmed the shelling by Turkish troops on Syrian targets.
Hostilities with Turkish forces has caused severe tension with Russia who is Syria's main ally, with Russia and Turkey who both support anti-government groups in Idlib.
Earlier President Erdogan vowed to push back Syria with deadly force, if the Syrian forces were not retreating from the area, from Turkish posts by Februarys end.
Turkey is not ready to allow more refugees in, with more than 3.6 million already behind the border which makes it hard to let in more.
The 33 Turkish soldiers killed in the Syrian attack is still something to resolve and settle hostilities sooner or it gets worse.
