President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday threatened to launch an operation in Syria's Idlib region by the end of the month if Syrian forces fail to withdraw behind Turkish military positions.
"As with all [previous] operations, we say 'we could suddenly come one night.' In other words, an Idlib operation is a matter of time," President Erdogan told his party's parliamentary group in the capital Ankara, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
"An operation in Idlib is imminent … We are counting down, we are making our final warnings," he said.
Turkey is determined to transform Syria's Idlib into safe place both for Turkey, and the region's people at any cost, Mr Erdogan said.
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This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows refugee camps for internally displaced people near Deir Hassan in northern Syria's Idlib province near the Turkish border on Feb. 16, 2020. AP -
This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows an area near Deir Hassan in northern Syria's Idlib province near the Turkish border on Feb. 5, 2019, top, and the same area with a large number of refugee tents for internally displaced people on Feb. 16, 2020, bottom. The difference between the two images illustrates the rapid expansion of refugees as hundreds of thousands of civilians in the area are scrambling to escape a widening, multi-front offensive by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces. AP -
This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows an area near Kafaldin in northern Syria's Idlib province near the Turkish border on Feb. 5, 2019, top, and the same area with a large number of refugee tents for internally displaced people on Feb. 16, 2020, bottom. AP -
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows refugee camps for internally displaced people near Kafaldin in northern Syria's Idlib province near the Turkish border on Feb. 16, 2020. AP -
An aerial view shows refugee tent camps near Tal Adeh, Syria, February 16, 2020. REUTERS -
This Feb. 5, 2019, satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an area near Deir Hassan in northern Syria's Idlib region near the Turkish border. AP
Russia warned Turkey against attacking Syrian forces, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying an operation against "the legitimate authorities of the Syrian republic and armed forces" would be "the worst scenario".
It comes as Syrian aid workers issued an urgent call for a ceasefire and international help for nearly a million people fleeing a regime onslaught in Syria's north-west.
At a press conference in Istanbul, the Syrian NGO Alliance said existing camps are overcrowded and civilians forced to sleep in the open as more than 900,000 people flee the violence.
"We are facing one of the worst protection crises and are dealing with a mass movement of IDPs (internally displaced persons) who have nowhere to go," the Syrian NGO Alliance said in a statement.
They are "escaping in search of safety only to die from extreme weather conditions and lack of available resources," it added.
