Five Turkish soldiers have died and five were injured during shelling of an observation post in Syrian Idlib, NTV TV reported referring to Turkish Defense Ministry.

A return fire was opened, TV channel reported referring to a statement of the country's Ministry of Defense, RIA Novosti reported.

On February 3, eight Turkish military and civilians were killed in shelling by the Syrian army in Idlib. According to Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan, 76 Syrian soldiers became victims of Turkish response.

Erdogan said earlier he had called on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the offensive in the Idlib province and withdraw from Turkish observation posts by the end of February, otherwise threatening with a military response.