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Turkey seeks Patriots as Idlib fighting escalates
Summary
A look back at the events of 21 February 2020 and the preceding day, when Turkish forces and Syrian government troops clashed in Idlib.
What had changed on the Syria–Turkey border by 21 February 2020? The day before, 20 February, Turkish-backed rebels launched an offensive in Syria's Idlib Governorate against government forces, part of the wider northwestern Syria offensive that ran from December 2019 to March 2020.
The fighting drew Turkish troops directly into the confrontation. A Russian air strike killed two Turkish soldiers and injured five others. Turkey said its retaliatory strike killed 50 Syrian troops. Several tanks and armoured personnel carriers were destroyed near the village of Nayrab.
Ankara also turned to its NATO ally. On 20 February, Turkey formally requested that the United States deploy Patriot surface-to-air missile systems on the Syria–Turkey border. The aim was to deter Syrian and Russian air strikes on Turkish troops.
Together, the casualties and the request for air defences marked a sharp escalation in the Idlib fighting as 21 February began.
