Syrian government shelling killed one Turkish soldier and wounded another in northwest Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry announced, days after serious clashes between the two armies appeared to signal a new stage in the nine-year war.
The soldier's death, announced late Monday, raises to 55 the number of Turkish losses this month in direct clashes between Turkish troops and Russian-backed Syrian forces. The death toll includes 33 Turkish soldiers killed Thursday in a single airstrike.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The Syrian government's months-long offensive into northwest Syria's Idlib province, the last rebel-held area in the country, has sparked one of the war's worst humanitarian crises. Almost one million Syrian civilians have fled north toward the sealed Turkish border.
Turkey has sent thousands of troops into Idlib to support the opposition fighters holed up there, but hasn't been able to roll back the government's advance.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he hopes to broker a cease-fire in Syria later this week when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Tensions in Idlib rose following the Syrian strike that killed the 33 Turkish soldiers in Idlib. Turkey responded with drone attacks and shelling that killed more than 90 Syrian troops and allied gunmen. The Turkish air force also shot down two Syrian warplanes after Syria's air defenses shot down one of its drones. The Syrian pilots ejected safely.
On Tuesday, Turkey shot down a third Syrian fighter jet in Syria's Idlib province.
The Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Twitter that the Turkish military downed a L-39 warplane belonging to Syrian government forces. Syrian state-run television reported that Turkish forces targeted a warplane as it was carrying out operations against "terrorist groups" in the rebel-held Idlib region. It was not immediately clear what happened to the plane's crew.
Outraged by the assault against its forces in Syria, Turkey has opened its western borders for thousands of migrants and refugees wanting to cross into Europe. It is Ankara's latest bid to pressure the European Union to help handle the fallout from the disastrous Syrian war.
Thousands of migrants have since tried to cross into Greece by land and sea. Greek authorities have made clear their side of the border is shut and have turned to arresting dozens of those who managed to find a way through the frontier.
Earlier Monday, a child died when a boat full of migrants heading to a Greek island capsized.
Greek authorities said they had stopped more than 24,000 attempted illegal crossings at the land border with Turkey since early Saturday, and arrested 183 people – very few of whom were Syrians.
As European countries rushed to back Greece, Erdogan said Monday that Western leaders were calling him and urging him to reverse the border opening. "It's done, the gates are open now. You will have your share of this burden now," he said he told them.
Soon "the number of people going to the border will be expressed in millions," he said.
Greece, which has made clear its borders will remain closed, says it is faced with an organized Turkish campaign to push people through. The two uneasy NATO allies are historic regional rivals who have come close to war three times in the past half-century, and even before the migration crisis relations were tense over undersea exploitation rights.
Greek Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis said Greece faced "an organized invasion from a foreign country."
"Turkey is making use of innocent people in its efforts to destabilize Greece and Europe," he told state ERT TV.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it is "understandable" that Erdogan feels overwhelmed by the number of refugees at the Syrian border, and that Russia needs to be pressed on a cease-fire.
"I understand that the Turkish government and President Erdogan expect more from Europe," Merkel said. But it is "fully unacceptable that that is now being put on the backs of refugees.
Greek authorities said they arrested 42 migrants who made it into Greece on Monday, most of them from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Morocco.
Therose Ngonda, a 40-year-old from Cameroon, made it into Greece by wading across the river.
Speaking in the morning, her feet still wet, she said she had been told migrants had 72 hours from Friday to leave Turkey. She got on one of dozens of buses and minibuses ferrying people from Istanbul to the border, among about 2,000 people, including Syrians and families with young children.
Ngonda said she was put into the river on the Turkish side of the border. "They told me 'go that way.'"
