Turkey has asked the U.S. to deploy two Patriot missile-defense batteries on its southern border to free it to punish any future attacks by Russian-backed Syrian troops, according to a senior Turkish official in Ankara.
The disclosure was almost immediately followed Thursday by a spasm of violence that left two Turkish troops dead and five wounded in northwest Syria.
The fighting increased the number of Turkish troops killed at observation posts in the Idlib area over the past three weeks to at least 15 as pro-government forces, supported by Russian air power, seek to crush the last major pocket of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
The official, who's familiar with Turkey's policy in Syria, said Ankara could use F-16 warplanes to strike units loyal to Assad in Idlib if the Patriots were deployed in Hatay on Turkey's border to provide protection.
Turkey is yet to receive a U.S. response to the request, which was relayed last week to James Jeffrey, the U.S. envoy for Syria engagement, the official said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The U.S. Embassy in Turkey declined to comment. Spokespeople for the White House and U.S. National Security Council didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Turkey's Defense Ministry said an airstrike was responsible for killing and wounding Thursday's casualties, without pinning the blame on Russian or Syrian aircraft. Its counterpart in Moscow said in a statement that Russian Su-24 jets had carried out strikes to stop an offensive by Syrian rebels backed by Turkish artillery.
Intent on halting the advance, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had vowed Feb. 12 to take military action "everywhere in Syria" if another Turkish soldier was killed or wounded.
Fahrettin Altun, a top aide to Erdogan, said the attack was carried out by Syrian government forces. On Twitter, he wrote: "The blood of our martyrs won't be left unaccounted for."
The Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted that as many as 50 Syrian government soldiers were killed and that five tanks, two armored personnel carriers and other equipment were destroyed.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova raised what she called "serious concern about the Turkish military support for the militants."
"This incident represents a violation of the Russian-Turkish agreements on separation between the armed opposition and terrorists and the creation of a demilitarized zone. It risks provoking further escalation of the conflict in that part of Syria's territory," she said in a statement.
The escalating standoff in Idlib between Russia and Turkey is now developing "according to the worst scenario," warned Elena Suponina, a Middle East expert based in Moscow.
By lending air support to the Syrian army, "Russia has demonstrated it's ready to respond harshly," Suponina said by phone. "This signal should be understood correctly by Turkey. It would be good if it pushed the sides toward a compromise."
While Turkey is requesting the deployment of U.S.-operated Patriots, the two countries have wrangled for years over Turkish requests to buy the missiles. The Trump administration has refused to agree to a deal unless Turkey first scraps an advanced Russian missile-defense system it bought last year that Washington considers a threat to NATO's capabilities.
Turkey doesn't see the Patriot request -- made to a NATO ally at a difficult time for the country -- as requiring any concessions on its part, the official said.
Information for this article was contributed by Selcan Hacaoglu, Ilya Arkhipov, Henry Meyer and Mario Parker of Bloomberg News; and by Suzan Fraser, Vladimir Isachenkov and Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press.
A Section on 02/21/2020