A hundred and one troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were killed, the Turkish defense ministry said. ADTo deter the Syrian army, Turkey has sent reinforcements to a dozen military observation posts it maintains in Idlib. ADThe first attack occurred Feb. 3, when shelling by Syrian government forces near the town of Saraqeb killed seven Turkish soldiers and a civilian employee of the Turkish military. ADOn Monday, Syrian forces carried out "intense artillery shelling" on a Turkish position in Taftanaz, about eight miles northeast of Idlib's provincial capital, killing the five Turkish soldiers, according to Turkey's defense ministry and monitoring groups. Negotiations between Russia and Turkey over the past few days had failed to yield an agreement on halting the violence, Turkish officials said.

Source: Washington Post February 10, 2020 13:43 UTC