Rocket Attack Kills Turkish Soldier in Syria’s Idlib

In a statement on Twitter, the Turkish Defense Ministry said, "In the Operation Spring Shield zone, one of our hero fellow soldiers was killed and four soldiers were injured in the rocket attack on our supply convoy on May 10, 2021.”

He also wished a speedy recovery for the wounded who had been transferred to hospital.

Turkish forces identified targets in the area and opened fire in retaliation, the ministry said, without elaborating on who carried out the rocket attack.

On March 1, Turkey waged its fourth cross-border incursion into Syria, dubbed Spring Shield, days after an airstrike by Syrian forces killed dozens of Turkish soldiers, whom Russia said were “in the battle formations of terrorist groups.”

As tensions mounted in Idlib, Russia and Turkey - that are supporting the opposite sides to the Syria conflict - agreed on a ceasefire, under which their forces conduct joint patrols along the M4 highway linking Syria’s east and west, and establish a security corridor on either side of it.

Turkey began its cross-border military operations in Syria with the declared aim of eliminating Syrian Kurdish militants of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).