Turkey downs two Syrian war planes as it launches full-scale military offensive dubbed ‘Spring Shield’

TURKEY downed two Syrian planes yesterday in retaliation to 33 of its troops being wiped out in a single airstrike.

Ankara's Defence Ministry said it had hit the two SU-24 aircraft on Sunday as well as Syrian air defence systems and a military airport.

AFP later reported that 19 Syrian fighters had been wiped out by Turkish strikes.

Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar confirmed Sunday's operation - dubbed 'Spring Shield'- and vowed that any attack on Turkish forces in Idlib would be met with retaliation.

Idlib is a northwestern Syrian province where Turkish troops and rebels have been fighting with Syrian government forces.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the four pilots in the two jets shot down had ejected and landed safely.

CLASHES IN SYRIA

The Turkish operation was in direct response to 33 of its troops being killed in a single airstrike on Thursday.

The escalation in tensions has sparked fears of a direct conflict between Turkey and Syrian's main military ally Russia.

However, Mr Akar said yesterday that Ankara is not seeking a war with Moscow.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that its forces could not guarantee the safety of Turkish planes flying in Syria after Damascus shut airspace.

"In these conditions the leadership of Russia's military contingent (in Syria) cannot guarantee the safety of Turkish flights in Syrian skies," TASS cited Counter Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev as saying

In response to the Turkish rocket attack, Syria said northwestern airspace was closed - and any aircraft or drone that entered would be treated as an enemy and destroyed. 

WAR WITH RUSSIA?

The Assad regime has already claimed it has shot down three Turkish drones used to target its bases following the attack on it's two warplanes.

Meanwhile, the decision to open the country’s borders with Europe comes after months of President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening to flood Europe with migrants.

Originally Turkey agreed to help curb the EU refugees entering Europe in return for financial aid in 2015.

But outraged Erdogan accused the bloc of not honouring the agreement, saying he would allow them passage into Europe unless more international support was provided.

Turkey already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, as well as many others from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Another one million civilians have been displaced in Syria near the Turkish border since December as the Russian-backed Syrian regime seized swathes of territory from Turkish-backed rebels.

Aid agencies say it has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the nine-year war.