Turkey is trying to lure EU and NATO into the battle for northern Syria

Greece tightens controls at the Turkish border. That happens because Turkey no longer stops Syrian refugees who want to go to Europe. A source with the Greek police said that land and sea border patrols have doubled and that a general call for increased preparedness has been made.

Turkish media reported that currently about three hundred migrants are heading north-west toward the Turkish-Greek border. The escalating situation in Syria must end immediately. That call is made by EU foreign chief Josep Borrell in response to the presumably Russian air raid in which 33 Turkish soldiers died in the Syrian province of Idlib. He warns of the risk of a "major international military confrontation".

Idlib is seen as the last stronghold of rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army. Assad's army continues to advance in the province. According to the latest reports, almost one million people are fleeing the violence. A civil war has been raging in Syria since 2011. The majority of the country is again in the hands of Assad. The war has already cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

A government source said that Greece is in contact with the European Union and NATO after the recent escalation in the Syrian Idlib. Greece was the main gateway for hundreds of thousands of refugees who left Turkey during a massive exodus in 2015 and 2016. That came to an end when the EU made a deal with Turkey.

The European Union expects Turkey to continue to comply with the 2016 agreements on controlling refugee flows. No official news has come from Ankara that the policy is being changed or the deal is being canceled.

"The deal is still, as far as we are concerned," said the committee spokesperson. The daily EU board is going to look at what is true of reports that migrants are moving towards Europe. "We are not going to speculate about a large influx of people."

In the agreement, Turkey and the EU agreed that Ankara checks its borders to stop migrants. Both parties agreed that all migrants arriving in Greece may be returned. For every returned migrant, Europe would have a Syrian refugee come to EU.

In Turkey, social media such as Twitter and Facebook were closed after the attack on the Turkish soldiers. For example, Turkey keeps control over the rumors that there would be many more deaths.