By Gozde Bayar
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has “neutralized” a total of 51 Assad regime military personnel in Idlib de-escalation zone, northwestern Syria, the country’s National Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry said in a statement that 51 regime personnel were “neutralized”, two tanks, an anti-aircraft gun and an ammunition depot were destroyed.
Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
Earlier Monday at least five Turkish troops were martyred and five injured in an attack by Assad regime forces in Idlib, northwestern Syria.
This followed last week’s attack by regime forces in Idlib which martyred seven Turkish soldiers and one civilian contractor working with the Turkish military, and injured more than a dozen people. In retaliation, Turkey last week struck over 50 targets and killed 76 Syrian soldiers.
The Turkish troops are in Idlib as part of an anti-terror and peace mission.
Idlib has been a stronghold of the opposition and anti-government armed groups since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
But more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces since then, flouting both the 2018 cease-fire and a new one that started on Jan. 12.
