Russia explains death of Turkish troops in Idlib

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Turkish military who came under fire from Syrian troops were among the advancing militants.

"Turkish military who were in the terrorist units’ battle formations came under Syrian troops’ fire near the inhabited community of Behun," TASS cited the ministry as saying.

The ministry noted that the militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terror group (one of the names of Jabhat al-Nusra, outlawed in Russia) made an attempt to launch a large-scale offensive in Idlib.

As for the Russian Aerospace Forces, they did not carry out airstrikes in the area close to Behun where Turkish servicemen had been killed, the Russian ministry stressed.