Turkish forces have been shelling Syria for four straight days, with the state military confirming that it had returned fire “in kind” with forces across the border, which reportedly targeted members of a Kurdish militia.
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The UN said almost 50 civilians, including children, died in bombings of at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria’s Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
At least 14 people were killed on Monday when Russian warplanes struck two hospitals in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, according to a local source.
The West accuses it of pursuing the goal of wiping out Mr Assad’s moderate opposition rather than the stated objective to destroy jihadists like the Islamic State group.
“Attacks against health facilities in Syria by the regime or its supporters are unacceptable and must stop immediately”, said Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French foreign minister, reports The Guardian.
“Turkey will continue to retaliate whenever and wherever it is necessary in order to protect its own borders [and] prevent an ethnic cleansing that poses threat for its security; [it will not] allow any further human tragedy or intense refugee flow, and [it will] prevent the weakening of Syrian opposition forces”, he added.
He added that Turkey has no plans to unilaterally send ground troops into Syria, but that Ankara has raised the issue in worldwide meetings, including with the United States.
The secretary-general said the attacks “cast a shadow on commitments” made by nations seeking to end the Syrian conflict at a conference in Munich on February 11, which included a cessation of hostilities within a week and an end to attacks on civilians.
“Turkey is not going to have a unilateral ground operation. And then it is referring Turkey to the UN Security Council to take measures for its border security”, Davutoglu said.
A hospital in the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, northwest Syria, supported by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), was among those hit, the aid group said.
The SDF had already seized the nearby Minnigh airbase and severed the road between Tal Rifaat and rebel-held Azaz on the border.
Ambassador Riad Haddad said there is “intelligence information” that proves that coalition warplanes raided the hospital.
In Turkey, the private Dogan news agency reported that more than 30 of those wounded in Russian airstrikes in Azaz, primarily children, were transferred to a hospital in southern Turkey.
The United States and aid groups blamed the Syrian government and Russian allies for the airstrikes.
Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as allied to the outlawed PKK, which has carried out a decades-long campaign for autonomy in Turkey.
“We want a ground operation with our worldwide allies”, the official said, asking not to be named. He said the targets in Aleppo were terrorists, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, and that those fleeing the city were “fighters who are just trying to escape”.
But Turkey’s focus on the YPG means it can not necessarily count on such support from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which, while reluctant to pressure Ankara in public, is working behind closed doors to discourage it from targeting the Kurds and from an escalation with Russian Federation. If they approach again they will see the harshest reaction.
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A US State Department spokesperson urged Turkey and Russian Federation to avoid any further escalation.
