Hint Erdogan: If Syria does not retreat, we will use force

Turkey's President Recep Tayip Erdogan threatens to use force against Syrian forces unless they withdraw by the end of the month in a previously agreed ceasefire in northern Syria.

“If the regime does not back down into the area behind observation posts, Turkey will be forced to take matters into its own hands,” warned Erdogan as he addressed members of his party following a clash between Turkish and Syrian forces in Syria on Monday, where there were victims among both sides, the AP reports.

He stressed that currently two Turkish observer positions are behind the lines of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Erdogan said he conveyed Putin during a telephone conversation yesterday that “regime (Assad) should withdraw behind (Designed lines) by the memorandum from Soci, behind our survey positions”.

Erdogan also stressed that Ankara gives special importance to friendship and co-operation with Moscow.

Our only welcome from Russia is to better understand the sensitivity of our issue in Syria. I shared our expectations for Syria and Libya with Putin (during a phone conversation yesterday)”, Erdogan said.

Since December, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have advanced to the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel fortress. Turkey, which supports some of the rebels, has dozens of observation positions for its army in Idlib, which borders Turkey,

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency session Thursday regarding the situation in northwest Syria at the request of the United Kingdom, the United States, and France.

Idlieb is the only Syrian region where fighting is still under way. In 2017 an area opened in this province where the rebel forces and parts of terrorist groups refused to surrender.