President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday threatened to launch an operation in Syria's Idlib region by the end of the month if Damascus fails to withdraw behind Turkish military positions.

"An operation in Idlib is imminent," Erdogan told his party's lawmakers in parliament. "We are counting down, we are making our final warnings".

Russia, on the other hand, warned Turkey against attacking Syrian forces after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch an operation in Syria's Idlib region.

"If we are talking about an operation against the legitimate authorities of the Syrian Republic and armed forces of the Syrian republic this would, of course, be the worst scenario," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.