UPDATE - Syria: 6 martyred in regime attacks on Turkish troops

UPDATES WITH DEATH TOLL

By Mehmet Tosun and Muhammed Boztepe

ANKARA (AA) - Death toll from regime attack on Turkish troops in northern Syria on Monday has risen to six, the Defense Ministry said.

At least five Turkish soldiers and a civil personnel were martyred and seven others injured in intense shelling by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Idlib, the ministry said in a written statement.

Those who carried out the heinous attack will be brought to account and our right to self-defense against similar attacks will be used, it added.

Turkey is fighting Syria regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups in Idlib.

- Cease-fire violations

Located in the northwestern Syria, Idlib province is the stronghold of the opposition and anti-government armed groups since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.

It is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces across the war-weary country.

Turkey and Russia agreed in September 2018 to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone, killing at least 1,300 civilians since the agreement.

In a fresh move, Turkey announced on Jan. 10 that a new cease-fire in Idlib would start just after midnight on Jan. 12. However, the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups continued their ground attacks.

Almost 1.5 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks since the beginning of 2019.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.