Erdogan, Putin discuss Syria's Idlib over phone

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the Assad regime's attack against the Turkish military was a blow to joint efforts to bring peace to Syria.

In a phone call Tuesday, Erdogan also underlined that Turkey would continue to use its legitimate right of self-defense in the harshest way in the case of similar attacks from the militias loyal to Bashar Assad.

The Kremlin said the two presidents had agreed to take immediate measures to improve the coordination of their countries' actions in Syria.

Putin and Erdogan highlighted the need to follow Russian-Turkish agreements on Syria's Idlib province that envisaged increasing cooperation to "neutralize extremists," the Kremlin added.

The phone call comes amid escalating tensions following the Assad regime’s attack on Turkish soldiers in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province.

On Monday, seven Turkish soldiers were killed and six were wounded by Assad regime shelling west of Saraqib in Syria's Idlib. 

In response to regime attacks, the Turkish military targeted Assad militias throughout the day Monday. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) also established temporary military bases and observation points in four different locations in Saraqib, which serves as the crossing point across the M4 and M5 highways.

Based on DS