Syrian President Bashar Assad has condemned Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "thief" as he made his first visit to areas in Idlib province recently retaken by Syrian government forces from Turkey-backed rebels.
Syrian state media showed images of Mr Assad standing among Syrian soldiers in what the report said was strategic southern Idlib territory.
The media quoted him as calling Mr Erdogan a "thief who robbed factories, wheat and fuel and is today stealing territory" - apparently referring to Turkey's invasion this month into north-eastern Syria to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters.
His comments came as Syrian troops continued to deploy in parts of the north where they are supporting Kurdish forces to contain a Turkish invasion, according to state news agency SANA.
After turning the tide of the war, Mr Assad's forces now control around 60 per cent of the country and the president has repeatedly vowed to return all of it to his control.
The Idlib region, which has some three million residents, half of them displaced from other parts of the country, is the last major rebel bastion in Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - a jihadist alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate - extended its administrative control over the whole of Idlib in January, but other rebel factions remain present.
In April, the Syrian government and its Russian allies launched an intensified bombardment of the region.
In August, government troops began a ground offensive that saw them retake several areas in southern Idlib, including the town of Al-Hbeit, which was among the first to fall.
A 31 August ceasefire brokered by Russia largely halted air strikes and clashes with heavy weapons, but skirmishes persist, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
While the Idlib front has been relatively calm, Syrian troops this month deployed in the northeast as part of a deal with Kurdish forces to protect them from a Turkish invasion.
The deployment is the army's most significant in the Kurdish-controlled north and northeast since it pulled back from the region from 2012.
The Syrian war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Additional reporting: AFP
