Turkish army suffered mass casualties in an airstrike-could dramatically shift the course of war 👀
Last edited Thu Feb 27, 2020, 08:28 PM - Edit history (1)
Airstrike Hits Turkish Forces in Syria
The Turkish army suffered mass casualties in an airstrike, Turkish officials say, an attack that could dramatically shift the course of the Syrian war.
By Carlotta Gall
Feb. 27, 2020
Updated 5:50 p.m. ET
ISTANBUL — The Turkish army suffered mass casualties in an airstrike in northwest Syria late Thursday, an attack that could dramatically change the course of the Syrian war.
At least 22 Turkish soldiers were killed, said Rahmi Dogan, the Turkish governor of the southern province of Hatay, where the Turkish casualties were arriving. News reports citing social media messages and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, put the number of Turkish dead as high as 34.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey held an emergency meeting Thursday evening in Ankara, Turkish media reported. He has been calling for Syrian government and Russia forces to cease their two-month offensive in Idlib Province and to pull back from Turkish positions, which have been encircled and cut off by Syrian government forces.
Turkish officials said the strike had been carried out by Syrian government forces, but Russian jets have been conducting most of the airstrikes in the area in recent weeks. Russian officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
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Just... wow. On top of everything else!
Link to tweet
Olga Lautman @olgaNYC1211
Russia-Turkey are on the verge of war. 22 Turkish soldiers were killed with some reports being
higher after reports that Russian forces fired on Turkish soldiers in Idlib. There is also an unconfirmed report that Turkey has told the Russian ambassador to leave. Will update
AFP news agency ✔@AFP
#BREAKING Russia accuses Turkey of violating Syria deal, supporting rebels with artillery
5:13 PM - Feb 27, 2020
= new reply since forum marked as read
...but this still signals a huge escalation is about to take place. 
Syrian territory.
They're fighting to remain in Syria and protect "rebels", more than one group of which had been allied with the likes of al-qa'ida.
They're doing the Russian Donbas strategy against a neighbor they don't like. Mimicking Israel's West Bank strategy in Cyprus worked, so of course they thought this would work. Except that while the Palestinians are a tougher crowd than the Greeks, you don't want to piss off the Russians.
Erdogan will find that playing off the Russians against the other NATO allies, only to turn to them when the Russians don't play nice, isn't likely to work. (But, of course, we'll say, "It's just Trump ... and Macron ... and Merkel playing nice to their russki overlord. Don't listen to the fascists in Poland and the Baltics."
Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons against Russian aircraft?
