Syria Regime Helicopter Downed as Ankara Threatens Damascus

ARK News.. Tensions escalated Tuesday between Syria's regime and opposition-backer Turkey as a Syrian military helicopter was shot down and Ankara warned of a "heavy price" for any attacks on its forces.

The new flare-up, a day after regime shelling killed five Turkish troops, came as regime forces battling opposition factions in northwestern Syria took full control of a key highway linking the country's four largest cities.

The advance marked another step in regime leader Bashar Assad's campaign to retake Syria's last opposition-held pocket, where nearly 700,000 civilians have fled violence since December in the largest exodus since the start of the war.

Shortly after the M5 motorway was recaptured, a rocket attack downed a Syrian regime helicopter in Idlib province, killing both pilots, an AFP correspondent and a war monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the helicopter was hit by a rocket fired by Turkish forces, though Ankara did not claim responsibility.

An AFP correspondent saw the bodies of the two pilots and the mangled remains of the helicopter at the site of the crash near the village of Qaminas, southeast of Idlib city.

According to the pro-regime Masyaf news page, the dead are: “Colonel Issa Izz al-Din was born in Homs - al-Rawda and the pilot, Captain Ali Rizq al-Hallaq and Bashar Samra, was born in Masyaf - in Qaraqa and Suleiman Hamdan.

Regime forces later shelled areas near a Turkish observation post in the same village, said the Observatory and an AFP correspondent who saw large plumes of smoke rising following a large fiery blast.

The Observatory said the attack killed at least three people but it remained to be seen whether they were Syrian factions or Turkish troops.

Turkey, which has troops deployed in several locations in northern Syria, continues to support opposition groups battling the Assad regime or acting as proxies against SDF.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish troops would continue to respond to Syrian regime attacks.

"The more they attack... our soldiers, they will pay a very, very heavy price," he told a televised ceremony in Ankara.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would work with Turkey on its response to Monday's attack.

"The ongoing assaults by the Assad regime and Russia must stop," Pompeo said on Twitter.

He said he has sent US special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey to Turkey "to coordinate steps to respond to this destabilizing attack".

Earlier Tuesday, Damascus’ forces retook full control of the key M5 highway from extremists and allied opposition factions in the northwest for the first time since 2012, the Observatory said.

Source: Al Sharq Al-Awsat

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