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What was happening on Syria's Idlib front?
Summary
A look back at the escalation between Turkey, Syria and Russia in Idlib, and Ankara's request to Washington for air defences.
What was unfolding in north-western Syria on 22 February 2020? Two days earlier, on 20 February, the fighting in Idlib Governorate had sharpened, as part of the offensive that ran from December 2019 to March 2020.
As reported at the time, Turkish-backed rebels launched an offensive in Idlib against government forces. A Russian air strike killed two Turkish soldiers and injured five others. Turkey said a retaliatory strike killed 50 Syrian troops. Several tanks and armoured personnel carriers were destroyed near the village of Nayrab.
The same day, Turkey formally asked its NATO ally, the United States, to 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.
Taken together, the strikes and the missile request showed Turkey's involvement in the Syrian civil war moving into direct exchanges with government forces, with Russian air power also part of the picture, in the days before 22 February 2020.
