29 Turkish soldiers killed in Syria's Idlib

ANKARA: At least 29 Turkish soldiers were killed in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib after an air strike on Thursday blamed on Damascus, as violence escalates in the already chaotic region.

Several soldiers were injured and taken to Turkey for treatment, Rahmi Dogan, the governor of Hatay in Turkey which sits on the border with Syria, said in televised remarks early Friday.

Turkey has urged the Syrian regime to withdraw from Turkish observation posts in Idlib. Under a 2018 deal with Russia meant to bring calm to Idlib, Turkey has 12 observation posts in the region but several have come under fire from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s forces.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hastily convened an emergency meeting in Ankara after the attack in Idlib, attended by the defence and foreign ministers as well as the spy chief and military commanders.

The latest attack means 42 Turkish security personnel have been killed in Idlib.

The UN Security Council, where Moscow has systematically vetoed truce initiatives, met again on Thursday amid growing concern that Idlib is witnessing the nine-year-old war s worst humanitarian emergency.

Some 950,0000 civilians have fled the government offensive, raising fears in Ankara of a new mass influx of refugees.

Turkey already hosts the world s largest number of Syrian refugees with around 3.6 million people, placing an increasingly unpopular burden on public services.

The United Nations has warned repeatedly that the fighting in Idlib has the potential to create the most serious humanitarian crisis since the start of the civil war in 2011.