German weekly Der Spiegel published a piece on Tuesday praising Turkey’s recent offensive against “the Syria-Russia coalition" across its southern border.
In a news analysis, the magazine said that “Turkey has done what the West has failed to do for the last seven years” against the Assad regime. Der Spiegel also emphasized a United Nations official’s warning against rising tensions in Idlib. United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock previously warned that Idlib would become the site of further “bloodshed” if precautions were not taken.
Also criticisizing former U.S. President Barack Obama for his failed Middle East policy, the magazine stated that Russia had bombarded over a million people.
Attacks by the forces of the Bashar Assad regime have killed 55 Turkish soldiers in the past month in Idlib. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened to push back Assad forces if they do not pull back to predetermined lines.
Regime airstrikes targeting Turkish troops heightened tensions between pro-opposition Turkey, Assad and its ally, Russia. The latest crisis stems from a Russian-backed Assad regime military campaign to retake Idlib province, which is the last opposition-held stronghold in Syria.
The offensive, which began Dec. 1, has triggered the largest single wave of displacement in Syria's nine-year war, sending nearly 950,000 people fleeing to areas near the Turkish border for safety.
