Turkey claims Syrian army targets crushed
Turkish forces have destroyed Syrian air defence systems, more than 100 tanks and two army planes, Turkish authorities say.
The operation followed an air strike that killed dozens of Turkish soldiers last week.
Tensions in northwest Syria have escalated sharply as fighting between Turkey-backed rebels and Russian-backed Syrian government forces risks bringing the two regional powers into direct confrontation.
Diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions have so far fallen short of achieving a ceasefire in the Idlib region of northwest Syria, the country's last major rebel stronghold after nine years of civil war.
Ankara has ramped up its attacks, including drone strikes, against the Syrian army since Thursday, when 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike by Damascus.
Another soldier was killed on Friday, bringing February's death toll to 55.
Syria's army warned on Sunday it would take down any planes or drones breaching the air space over the northwest, which has been controlled for years by its ally Moscow.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said his side had no intention of facing Russia.
"Our only intention there is for the (Syrian) regime to end the massacre and thereby prevent, stop, radicalisation and migration," he said.
Akar dubbed the operation, Turkey's fourth in Syria, "Spring Shield".
He said Turkey had destroyed a drone, eight helicopters, 103 tanks, 72 howitzers, rocket launchers, and six air defence systems among other military equipment since February 27.
Akar added that 2212 members of the Syrian forces had been "neutralised", a term used to designate killed, wounded or captured.
The Syrian Observatory, a Britain-based war monitor, said 74 Syrian government troops and pro-Damascus fighters had been killed since February 27.
Turkey's Defence Ministry said one of its drones had been downed on Sunday and that it had shot down two Syrian planes.
Syrian state news agency SANA said the pilots escaped in parachutes and were fine.
Australian Associated Press