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ANKARA, March 2-- After suffering its worst casualties in years, Turkey has launched a new major offensive against the Russia-backed Syrian forces in Idlib, but analysts said the spiking Russian-Turkish tensions are expected to ease off through a meeting this week between the leaders of the two countries. Turkey announced on Sunday that it had launched operation "Spring Shield" in northern Syria in order to increase Turkey's involvement in the neighboring country's civil war. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a crucial meeting after the two countries have come to the brink of a direct confrontation in Idlib. "I hope that during our discussions (in Moscow), Putin will take the necessary measures there, such as a cease-fire, and that we will be able to find a solution to this matter," Erdogan told members of his party in Ankara on Monday, raising hopes for a compromise. Experts agreed that Turkey's response to the deaths of over 50 soldiers in Idlib since the start of February is out of the ordinary. "There is currently a state of undeclared war between Turkey and Syria," Oytun Orhan, a senior analyst at the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Studies, told Xinhua. He explained that despite the diverging interests between Turkey and Russia in Idlib, a compromise seems very likely through the meeting. | 
