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Idlib clashes and Turkey's call for Patriots
Summary
A look back at 20 February 2020, when fighting in northwestern Syria deepened Turkey's confrontation with Russian and Syrian forces, while unrest flared in Ukraine.
What did 20 February 2020 show about the pressure building around Turkey's operations in Syria? In Idlib Governorate, Turkish-backed rebels launched an offensive against government forces, part of the northwestern Syria fighting that ran from December 2019 to March 2020.
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.
A request to a NATO ally
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 stated aim was to deter Syrian and Russian air strikes on Turkish troops. The request showed Ankara seeking air-defence support from an allied state while its forces were exposed to attacks from the air.
Sanctions on Russian oil trading
Two days earlier, on 18 February 2020, the U.S. State Department added the Russian oil company Rosneft Trading S.A. to its financial blacklist. The reason given was that the company had helped facilitate the sale of Venezuelan oil, under the international sanctions linked to the Venezuelan crisis.
Unrest in Novi Sanzhary
In Ukraine, protests in Novi Sanzhary against the arrival of people evacuated from China damaged buses and left 10 people injured.
Taken together, the day's reports pointed to sharp friction between Turkey and Russia on the ground in Syria, continued American use of sanctions against a Russian firm, and tension at home in Ukraine over the evacuees.
