Air strikes kill two Turkish soldiers in Idlib - defence ministry

At least two Turkish soldiers were killed and five others wounded in air strikes in Syria's Idlib.

In response, the Turkish military killed at least 50 regime fighters, destroys five tanks, two APCs and a howitzer in Idlib, the defence ministry said.

Turkey's Presidency's Directorate of Communications said the Syrian regime was behind the attack. 

Idlib falls within a de-confliction zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. 

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the ceasefire, launching frequent attacks inside the territory where acts of aggression are prohibited.

The Syrian regime offensive has disrupted Ankara and Moscow's fragile cooperation, after more than a dozen Turkish soldiers were killed by Syrian attacks in the past two weeks.

At least five Turkish soldiers were killed and five others were wounded on February 10 in Idlib. Another eight soldiers were killed on February 3 in the same region.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Syrian regime forces to retreat behind Turkey's military posts in Idlib, which were set up under a 2018 deal with Russia designed to hold off a regime advance.

Russia had responded to Erdogan's statement, saying that any operation against Syrian regime forces would be "the worst scenario."

Turkey, a supporter of some opposition groups in Idlib, has been pushing for a renewed ceasefire in talks with Russia, which backs the Syrian regime.

Ankara is eager to prevent another flood of refugees into its territory adding to the 3.7 million Syrians it already hosts.

The UN said 900,000 people had been displaced in "horrendous conditions" since December 1, more than 500,000 of them children.

Syria's war started in 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN figures.