Dubai. April 19. INTERFAX-Units of the Syrian army and the Russian military have subjected positions of Turkish-backed armed groups to intense artillery fire in the Idlib province, the Syrian news agency North Press agency (NPA) reported on Monday.
According to the agency, Turkish-controlled armed groups were shelled the day before in the cities of al-Fatira and Sufun in the south of Idlib.
On the same day, government forces fired mortars at pro-Turkish groups in several areas of Hama province. The attacks, according to the NPA, were accompanied by flights of Russian aircraft and drones.
The confrontation in northern Syria between government forces and pro-Turkish opposition groups escalated this spring.
In March, the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern to Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexey Yerkhov in connection with the shelling of the Syrian province of Idlib and the areas where Turkish forces are stationed in northern Syria. The US State Department said that Syrian troops and Russian aircraft carried out strikes in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.
The situation in Syria was discussed on March 25 during telephone talks between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
"The heads of the military departments discussed the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic in detail, paying attention to cooperation within the framework of the joint commission to consider issues related to violations of the cessation of hostilities, as well as other topics of mutual interest," the Russian Defense Ministry said at the time.
On March 29, the Russian military reported that three checkpoints of the civilian population in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo have been suspended since March 30 due to shelling by militants.
On April 7, the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria reported that five civilians were killed and six more, including two children, were wounded in the province of Aleppo in Syria due to artillery fire from areas controlled by the Turkish army.
On April 9, Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation, the parties discussed the situation in Syria, the Kremlin's press service reported at the time.
