Illustrative image.
On March 27, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) attacked a MRAP [Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected] vehicle of the Turkish military in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.
Syrian soldiers targeted the vehicle, a BMC Kirpi II, with an anti-tank guided missile as it was passing on a road to the southeast of the town of al-Atarib in the western countryside of Aleppo. The vehicle was severely damaged.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, three Turkish service members, including an officer, were injured as a result of the missile attack. The London-based monitoring group said that the wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Turkey.
SAA targeted a Turkish armored vehicle in Turkish and al Qaeda-occupied Atarib. 2 Turkish soldiers injured, no deaths (yet) pic.twitter.com/GX3YqqttHn
— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) March 27, 2022
The Turkish Ministry of National Defense has not commented on the missile attack, so far. The Turkish media said that the Turkish military responded to the attack by shelling positions of the SAA in the western Aleppo countryside.
Syrian pro-government sources said that the missile attack was a response to the March 23 Turkish artillery strikes on the Kurdish-held town Ibbin in the northern countryside in Aleppo. The strikes wounded two soldiers of the SAA who were situated in a position near the town.
The Turkish military will not likely escalate any further against the SAA in Greater Idlib, especially that the missile attack didn’t result in any fatalities.
Turkey maintains more than 60 military positions throughout Greater Idlib. Despite this, the region is being ruled by an al-Qaeda affiliate, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. A ceasefire in the region that was brokered by Turkey and Russia more than two years ago is barely holding up.
