Ankara today called for an “end to attacks” on the city of Idlib and its suburbs, the last stronghold of jihadists and rebels in northwestern Syria, following a series of raids by the Russian and Syrian air forces.

“We have asked for an end to the attacks. The recent clashes have caused an unwanted escalation of tensions in the border area,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Ohsu Keceli told Platform X, citing “the developments in Idlib and its border area.”

This is Turkey’s first official reaction since the jihadists’ lightning offensive against the Syrian regime began, which took them over two days into Aleppo, the country’s second largest city.

“It is of major importance for Turkey to avoid a new phase of even greater instability and not to harm civilians,” the ministry said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a large network of information sources in Syria, the jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied groups, some close to Turkey, entered Aleppo today.

The NGO spoke at the same time about fierce raids by Russian and Syrian aircraft in the city of Idlib and its surroundings.

The fighting, which has been increasingly violent since 2020, has killed at least 255 people, according to the Observatory.

An AFP correspondent had reported that violent clashes had been raging since Wednesday morning east of the city of Idlib, combined with airstrikes by government forces.

The head of the self-proclaimed “government” in Idlib, Mohammad al-Bashir, yesterday, Thursday, justified the attack by the jihadists, stating that the regime “had started shelling the residential areas, which caused the exodus of tens of thousands of civilians.”

For Ankara, “the recent attacks against Idlib have reached a level that undermines the spirit and implementation of the Astana agreements” of 2017.

The Astana process, which brings together Russia, Iran and Turkey, was supposed to end the conflict in Syria by creating four demilitarized zones. However, Syria never signed this agreement.

Turkey, which hosts three million Syrian refugees, had begun a reconciliation process with Damascus under the auspices of Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, but that rapprochement was not achieved.