Free Republic

Russia's military has denied it is responsible for airstrikes that killed dozens of Turkish soldiers on Thursday night in the Syrian province of Idlib, in an incident which threatens to cause a major escalation in Syria's civil war. Turkey has said at least 33 of its troops were killed and almost 40 more injured in the strikes. It said the airstrikes were carried out by the Syrian government. The deaths, the worst loss of life for Turkey's military since it became involved in Syria, occurred amid rising tensions and a spiraling humanitarian crisis in Idlib. This comes as Turkey seeks...

A long-developing proxy clash in Syria between Russia and Turkey is “very much moving into crisis mode,” a senior American diplomat said amid reports that Turkish troops were attacked in an airstrike. “Oh my gosh,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, exclaimed Thursday when she learned from journalists that more than 20 Turkish service members reportedly have been killed. “Let me say this because I just learned this: Of course, everything is on the table. This is a new development. This is a big development.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called an emergency meeting of his national security...