Turkey on Monday urged Russia to fulfill its responsibilities in the Astana process that aimed at a ceasefire in Idlib Province of Syria, the Turkish presidential spokesperson said. 
  
A visiting Russian delegation held the first round of talks with Turkish government on Saturday and continued discussions over the recent escalation of tension in Idlib on Monday. 
  
Following meetings at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the Russian delegation also met with Turkey's presidential aide and spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin. 

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The latest situation in Idlib has been discussed, said a written statement released by Kalin's office. 
  
The military attack carried out by the Syrian government forces at Turkish observation points was strongly condemned, said the statement, adding that the Turkish military would respond within the framework of the right of self-defense against the attack. 
  
An attack by the Syrian government forces killed five Turkish soldiers and injured five others in Idlib on Monday while talks between Turkish and Russian delegations were ongoing. A previous Syrian government attack on Turkish soldiers killed eight personnel of the army in Idlib last week.

Turkey has stressed to Russia that the attack against the Turkish soldiers was unacceptable, and that the Turkish army has responded in the hardest manner and will continue to retaliate, said the statement. 
  
Turkey emphasized the need to stop these attacks which were contrary to the spirit of the Astana deal and violated the Sochi consensus, and Russia, one of the guarantors of the agreement, should fulfill its responsibility, it added. 
  
Ankara expressed its determination to respond and take every kind of measures against attacks that aim at harming the political process, said the statement. 
  
Over the past two months, the Syrian army launched a wide-scale offensive in the southern and eastern countryside of Idlib as well as in the southern countryside of Aleppo Province in a bid to open the Damascus-Aleppo strategic highway that connects the country's south with its north. 
  
In the process, the army besieged some of the Turkish observation points that were set up in rebel-held areas to observe a short-lived de-escalation zone deal agreed upon between Russia and Turkey. 
  
The Syrian shelling targeted Taftanaz Air Base in Idlib countryside as Turkey was amassing forces and started shelling Syrian forces as part of Ankara's plan to launch a wide-scale offensive to hinder the progress of the Syrian army in Idlib.

Turkish forces have hit 115 Syrian government targets and destroyed 101 of them in retaliation for an attack that killed five Turkish soldiers in Syria's rebel-held northwest, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday. 

The ministry said Turkish forces would continue to retaliate any attacks on its troops, which have observation posts in the far northwest of Syria. Earlier, the ministry said Syrian forces had killed five Turkish soldiers, among thousands deployed there to help stem a Syrian offensive to retake the last rebel stronghold in the country after nearly nine years of civil war. 

"Up to now, 115 (Syrian) regime targets were immediately fired upon, and 101 regime elements were neutralized according to initial information from various sources," the ministry said in a statement. "It was found that three tanks and two mortar positions were destroyed, while one helicopter was also hit." 

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)