Moscow warns Ankara over safety of Turkish planes flying in Syria

MOSCOW - The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that Moscow could not guarantee the safety of Turkish planes flying in Syria after Damascus said it was closing the air space over the Idlib region, the TASS news agency reported.

The ministry issued the warning after Turkey shot down two Syrian warplanes over Idlib on Sunday and struck a military airport well beyond its frontlines in a sharp increase of its military operations following the death of dozens of Turkish soldiers last week.

"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.

Tensions soared between Damascus and Ankara as Turkish drone strikes in Idlib province killed 19 regime soldiers on Sunday hours after Turkey shot down two Syrian warplanes, a war monitor reported.

The 19 died in strikes on a military convoy in the Jabal al-Zawiya area and a base near Maaret al-Numan city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Following weeks of violence in and around Idlib, Turkey confirmed the launch of a full military operation against Russian-backed Syrian forces after 34 Turkish soldiers died last week in an air strike blamed on Damascus.

Tensions have intensified between rebel backer Turkey and the regime's main ally Moscow, but Ankara has insisted it does not want to clash directly with Russian forces.

The Syrian regime has vowed to retake the last opposition enclave in a nine-year civil war.

Ankara has also pressured Europe over the conflict by opening its border for migrants already in Turkey to cross into the continent.

The confrontation between Syrian forces and NATO-member Turkey has prompted worries over a wider conflict and a migrant crisis in Europe similar to that of 2015.