BEIRUT: Turkey-backed Syrian rebels have downed a helicopter believed to belong to the Syrian government in northwestern Syria’s Nairab town, Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Tuesday, as clashes continued in the region.
TRT Haber did not provide any further details. The incident comes a day after Syrian government forces killed five Turkish soldiers in northwestern Syria, prompting retaliation from the Turkish troops in the region.The incident happened the same day the Syrian government forces seized control of the entire length of the main Aleppo-Damascus highway for the first time since 2012, after driving rebels from their last foothold on the road, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The highway, the M5, runs all the way from Aleppo to Daraa in southern Syria. Government forces, backed by Russia and Iran, had seized control of the entire highway after capturing a western suburb of Aleppo from insurgents, the Observatory said.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed that Syria would pay a “heavy price” for any attack on Turkish troops, a day after five soldiers were killed in regime shelling.
“The more they attack on our soldiers, they will pay a very, very heavy price,” Erdogan told a televised ceremony in Ankara. He said he would reveal Wednesday the steps to be taken after the flare up in the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel bastion in Syria.
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