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UPDATE 28.06.2019: The Turkish military confirmed the death of second soldier as a result of the yesterday shelling.
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Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense announced in the late hours of June 27 that a Turkish service member was killed and three others were injured in the recent artillery strikes on an observation post in northwestern Hama.
In an official statement, the Turkish ministry said the attacks were launched from territory controlled by government forces and were judged to have been carried out deliberately. The ministry added that that Russia’s Ankara attache was summoned to military headquarters and was told that the attacks will be “punished in the strongest way”.
According to pro-opposition sources, at least three Turkish helicopters evacuated the injured Turkish service members from the observation post, which is located near the town Shir Mughar.
Baladi News, a pro-opposition outlet, also said that the Turkish observation post was attacked by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) several times on June 27.
“Regime forces targeted the Turkish observation point in Shir Mughar three times today in a row,” the outlet’s report reads.
Earlier this month, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the SAA of attacking any observation posts around Idlib and vowed that Ankara will respond to any such offensive.
Initial reports are saying that the Turkish military is shelling several positions of the SAA in northern Hama in response to the new attack. However, this is yet to be confirmed.
