US Will Provide Turkey Ammunition For Idlib, Says Top Envoy A top US official announced Tuesday that America is willing to supply Turkey with ammunition amid its ongoing battle to push back the Syrian-Russian military offensive in Idlib province. "The U.S. is willing to provide ammunition to Turkey for its operation in Idlib, northwestern Syria, U.S. special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey said Tuesday," Turkey's Daily Sabah reports. Turkey in Syria's Idlib, file image. The Syrian and Turkish armies have in recent days entered a dangerous heightened state of open war. No less than three Syrian jets have been https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1234837593159847936!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");, and over dozen Turkish drones have reportedly been shot down in the past week. This after last week a likely Russian airstrike killed 33 Turkish troops, which Turkey blamed on Syrian forces, apparently not wanting a confrontation with the more formidable Russians, including the potential for disrupting deepening economic and defense ties with Moscow (such as Russia's S-400 systems transfer). Turkey previously requested Patriot missiles from Washington to protect against Russian and Syrian air power, however. While the White House has remained cool on giving Ankara outright military support in Idlib, some within the US administration are said to be strongly considering the Patriot request. NEW - https://twitter.com/hashtag/Turkey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); - reportedly an F-16 - downed a https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Air Force L-39 jet over https://twitter.com/hashtag/Idlib?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); today. That's 3 jets in 3 days.pic.twitter.com/0kupZOSRoR — Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1234837593159847936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); On Tuesday the Daily Sabah reports further that "U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield also said the U.S. is considering the Turkish request for air defense systems." This means the US will be providing ammunition to Turkey to fight against Syria in the northwest....while in the northeast, the US is providing arms to the SDF, which is fighting with Syria against Turkey. https://t.co/H7E2Rmma56 — Liz Sly (@LizSly) https://twitter.com/LizSly/status/1234850916563591168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Turkish state media now reports 55 of its soldiers have been killed in Idlib over the past weeks, though also claiming a dubiously high number of 2,557 soldiers killed on the Syrian Army side. Ankara has lately urged greater NATO support as well; however, the collective defense Article 5 doesn't apply in this case, given Turkey has suffered no attacks on its own soil, instead it's engaged in operations on foreign soil. Tyler Durden Tue, 03/03/2020 - 13:55