The Turkish military has killed 21 Syrian troops after two Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib earlier, the state news agency reported on Friday, citing the Turkish defence ministry.

On Thursday, two soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after Syrian government forces opened fire in the north-western Syrian town of Idlib, the Turkish defence ministry said.

The statement from the ministry early on Friday morning also said that it destroyed two artillery pieces and two missile launchers.

It came hours after Turkey agreed a ceasefire in the area with Russia following weeks of deadly exchanges between the two countries’ military forces in the war-torn region.

The ceasefire deal between agreed between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Kremlin on Thursday came into effect at midnight in Idlib.

The two countries are on rival sides of the conflict in Syria. Russia is fighting for the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad while Turkey backs anti-government fighters. Russia and Syria have accused Turkey of backing “terrorists”.

Tensions along Turkey’s border with Greece also rose on Thursday when Ankara deployed special police forces to the area where thousands of refugees have gathered in an effort to cross into the European Union.

A day after delegates from the EU visited the area and warned Turkey not to allow refugees to cross the border, Greek authorities said Turkey had allowed refugees to regroup near the border.



