[ad_1]
Published in:
At least 28 Syrian militants loyal to Ankara, who were fighting with Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno Karabakh, have been killed since the start of clashes with Armenian separatists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
According to the director of the observatory, Rami Abdul Rahman, the dead belonged to pro-Ankara Syrian factions, and are among the more than 850 Syrian fighters transferred by Turkey to the disputed area since last week.
Agence France-Presse was able to verify that the families of at least three of them were informed of their deaths, including the leader of a group that left the town of Atarib in Aleppo’s western countryside last month.
On Friday, social media users in northern Syria shared images of four fighters, who said they had been killed in the fighting.
According to the observatory, the fighters belong to pro-Ankara Syrian factions, which are scattered in their areas of influence, especially in the north of Aleppo governorate. Most are descended from the Turkmen component.
Yerevan, which is part of a Moscow-led military alliance of former Soviet republics, accused Turkey of sending mercenaries from northern Syria in support of Azerbaijani forces.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “concern” over reports of the presence of foreign fighters in Karabakh.
However, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied the presence of Syrian fighters on its territory. “We totally reject this, and Azerbaijan does not need foreign fighters, because we have professional armed forces and we also have enough reserve forces,” Azerbaijani aide to President Hikmat Hajiyev told a press conference on Friday.
So far, there have been no official comments from Turkey on these accusations.
International calls for the two neighboring countries to cease fire and begin talks are intensifying, at a time of growing fears that the clashes could escalate into a multi-front war to attract the two regional powers, Turkey and Russia.
The new clashes that broke out last Sunday are the most violent in decades and have claimed nearly 200 people, including more than 30 civilians.
