ANKARA, March 3. /TASS/. A Turkish soldier has been killed in Syria’s Idlib, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told NTV television channel on Tuesday.

The ministry later confirmed the soldier’s death, adding that nine more servicemen had been wounded. "Retaliation fire was opened at 82 targets of the [Syrian President Bashar Assad] regime," the ministry said in a press statement.

Akar’s stament came after a closed-door session of the Turkish parliament that discussed the situation in Syria’s Idlib. Protocols of the session have been classified for a term of ten years.

The situation around Syria’s Idlib escalated on February 27 when, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, militants attempted a large-scale attack. The Syrian government army retaliated by delivering a strike, which, Ankara claims, killed 33 Turkish soldiers. The Russian Defense Ministry said however that the Turkish soldiers who had come under fire from the Syrian army were fighting alongside terrorists.

On February 27, Turkey launched another operation in Syria, the Spring Shield, targeting Syrian government army facilities and manpower. Previously, Turkey has held three military operations in Syria, creating a buffer security zone between the border towns of Aazaz and Jarabulus and establishing control over Afrin and territories east of the Euphrates.