Turkish Retaliatory Air Raids Punish Syrian Regime, Iran, Hezbollah

March 1, 2020

Dozens of Syrian troops and foreign fighters are dead in Syria after a massive bombing campaign by the Turkish air force, in response to the deaths of 33 Turkish soldiers last Thursday. Turkish F-16’s, drones and surface-to-surface missiles were deployed against regime targets all over northwest Syria, including Idlib and Aleppo governates, where Turkish-backed Islamist rebel forces continue to stave off defeat against the Syrian army. There were even strikes reported as far south as the port city of Latakia, a regime stronghold, where Iranian and Russian forces are based.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the deaths of 21 of its fighters on the front-lines of fighting this weekend, whereas the Lebanese Hezbollah militia has reported the deaths of at least 10 of its fighters in the Turkish bombardment. Video released by the Turkish military also showed Dozens of vehicles and air defense batteries were also struck. Islamist rebel forces, backed by Turkey, have already begun to seize the initiative, reversing the tide of recent losses to regain several villages and towns in southern Idlib while regime forces and their allies reeled from the Turkish onslaught. The Russian air force has already responded with a series of airstrikes on rebel forces, and the Syrian regime has begun surrounding and shelling Turkish outposts.

The Turkish airstrikes represent a dramatic escalation in the Syrian Civil War, threatening to bring Iran and Turkey into direct confrontation, and to dramatically heighten the risk to Syrian civilians caught in the crossfire between five armies. Turkey is appealing to the United States to provide Patriot missile batteries in defense of their campaign, which began in early February as a limited incursion into Idlib in support of rebel forces besieged by the advancing forces of Syria, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah.

In response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Idlib, Turkish president Erdogan has made good on his threats to release tens of thousands of Syrian refugees into Europe. The gates at the Turkish border with Greece were opened today, as thousands of migrants poured through and clashed with Greek border police nearby. Erdogan has routinely used over 3 million Syrian refugees inside Turkey as blackmail against the EU, threatening to flood Europe with migrants if EU states oppose his government’s policies towards Syria, Libya or the eastern Mediterranean.