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| - Three Turkish soldiers have been killed in an air strike in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. Turkey, which supports several rebel groups in the area, immediately responded to the attack by hitting Syrian "regime targets", the Turkish defence ministry said on Twitter. "We have three martyrs in Idlib, but the regime's losses are very high," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, without giving details. The death toll rose after the defence ministry earlier on Thursday said two soldiers had been killed and two had been injured in the Syrian region. The latest casualties have brought the number of Turkish security personnel killed in regime fire in Idlib this month to 20. Despite the losses, Erdogan said developments in Idlib had taken a "favourable turn". Backed by Russian air strikes, Damascus has pressed an offensive to take back the last rebel bastion of Idlib. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes since December in the largest displacement since the civil war in Syria broke out almost nine years ago. The attacks on Turkish forces have caused strains between Ankara and Syria's key ally Russia. The Turks urged the regime to pull back by the end of February from behind its military posts in Idlib, and has threatened an "imminent" operation. Turkey set up 12 observation posts after a deal in 2018 with Moscow, whom Ankara has worked with closely despite being on opposite sides. Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's top press aide, warned Damascus in a series of tweets on Thursday against attacks on civilians and Turkish soldiers. "We have and will continue to respond. If these attacks continue, we are moving forward with our plans to stop the regime from killing and displacing more people," Altun said, calling on the international community to "act now". Russian diplomats and military officials on Thursday held a second round of negotiations with their Turkish counterparts. The Turkish foreign ministry later said Turkey "stressed the need to secure an immediate ceasefire and discussed what steps should be taken on the ground to achieve this goal" during talks. The ministry said it also emphasised the importance of avoiding a humanitarian disaster and mass migration. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar earlier told reporters Turkey would "decide how to move forward based on" the outcome of the talks. The minister said Ankara sought access to the airspace above Idlib, controlled by Russia, to drones, but the foreign ministry did not make any comment on the issue. fo-raz/bsp
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