Turkish sources deny media reports saying Turkey fired on Russian warplanes

Turkey denies Russian media reports that "the elements of the Turkish Armed Forces fired on Russian planes in [Syria's] Idlib," Anadolu Agency said on Thursday citing "reliable" Turkish sources.

"It is unrealistic and the Turkish soldier never targeted to Russian troops and Russian planes," the news agency said.

The rebuttal comes after some Russian media outlets alleged the Turkish army was firing at Russian aircrafts in Idlib province.

Attacks on civilians

The regime and its allies have continued intensified air and land attacks on civilian settlements in the zone.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

But more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in attacks by the Syrian regime and Russian forces since then, flouting both the 2018 ceasefire and a new one that started this January.

More than 1.7 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the past year.

Attacks by the regime and its allies have also targeted Turkish soldiers on a peace mission in the region in recent weeks.

Turkey remains the country with the most refugees in the world, hosting more than 3.7 million migrants since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 that has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions of others.