Ankara has declared that it will retaliate against the Syrian regime, which killed three Turkish soldiers who were fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Aleppo province on Thursday.
“This attack will surely result in retaliation,” said Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım during a press conference in Ankara on Thursday.
Ten soldiers were also injured in the attack, which took place on the 93rd day of Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced.
The bodies of the slain soldiers were transported to Gaziantep, located on Turkey’s border with Syria.
Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels drive ISIL from the border city of Jarabulus in late August in a dramatic escalation of its involvement in the Syrian civil war. The attack marks the first intervention by Syrian regime forces targeting Turkish soldiers since the launch of the operation.
Turkish authorities have imposed a media ban on the incident.