Turkey's Defense Ministry

Turkish and Russian forces have carried out their ninth joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said on May 7.

"Within the framework of TUR-RF Agreement/Protocol, the 9th TUR-RF Combined Land Patrol on M-4 Highway in Idlib was conducted with the participation of land and air elements," the ministry said in a tweet.

At least 40 civilians, including 11 children, were killed on April 28 in a YPG/PKK terrorist attack in northwestern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said.

At least 47 others were also wounded in the attack in the Afrin city center carried out using a bomb-rigged fuel tanker, the ministry said in a tweet.

Turkish and Russian forces carried out their sixth joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Syria on April 28.

Turkish and Russian military forces have carried out another joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Syria, said Turkey's Defense Ministry on April 21. 

"Fifth combined Turkish-Russian land patrol was conducted today by air and ground vehicles on M4 motorway in Syria's Idlib province, as part of the earlier TR-RF agreement," the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkey's Defense Ministry is mulling temporarily halting the conscription and the discharge of soldiers, while assessing an alternative that will allow distance training for paid military service, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to local media reports.

A decision on the ministry's proposal will be discussed during April 13's cabinet meeting.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a letter on April 10 to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding medical supplies sent to help Britain cope with the coronavirus, according to Ankara's communication directorate.

Turkey's Defense Ministry on April 5 announced that personnel and troop movements in Syria were kept to a minimum within the scope of coronavirus measures.

A Turkish military aircraft carrying medical aid departed from the capital Ankara for Italy and Spain, the countries worst hit by the novel coronavirus in Europe.

A total of 200 prisoners, most of whom are ISIL terrorists, were released from prisons by the YPG/PKK in Syria's Hasakah and Raqqa provinces after some Arab tribes vouched for them, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 20.

More ISIL prisoners can be released if Arab tribes continue to vouch for them, the agency cited local sources as saying.

Turkey's Defense Ministry on March 20 ruled out rumours about the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

The ministry said in a written statement that the planned deployment and distribution of troops in Idlib continue.