Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given Russian-backed Syrian troops until the end of February to withdraw from some of the areas they have reclaimed in Idlib Province as part of an offensive launched in December. During a speech to his AK Party Wednesday in Ankara, Erdogan noted that two of Turkey’s 12 military observation posts in the province had been surrounded and bypassed. “We hope that the process of the [Syrian] regime pulling back behind our observation posts is completed in the month of February,” he said. “If the regime does not pull back during this time, Turkey will have to do the job itself.” On Monday, Syrian shelling killed eight Turkish troops inside what Ankara calls it’s Syrian “de-escalation zone,” with Turkey saying it “neutralized” over 30 Syrian soldiers in response. A United nations spokesman say that since the offensive began, over half a million local residents have been uprooted, with millions more having become refugees since the start of Syria’s almost nine-year-long civil war.
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