Special to WorldTribune.com

Russia has responded to the downing of its Su-24 by Turkey last week by escalating its air strikes near the Turkish border and imposing economic sanctions on Ankara.

At least 30 people were said to have been killed in Russian air strikes on the Syrian town of Ariha near the Turkish border on Nov. 29. Ariha is in an area held by anti-Assad regime rebels.

“I saw people thrown in the street, strewn corpses and terrified children crying and shouting for their parents,” Mohamed Amine Qurabi, a civil defense worker, told Reuters.

Residents in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria have reported an increase in air strikes by Russia in the days since Turkish F-16s shots down the Russian Su-24 near the border.

Observers say the targets of the new strikes have included areas close to two main border crossings between the rebel-held northwest and Turkey.

Moscow continues to say its main target is Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) but several intelligence officials have said the majority of the strikes have been against opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Meanwhile, Russia on Nov. 28 slapped economic sanctions on Turkey. Among the measures announced were restrictions on imports of some Turkish goods, a ban on charter flights between the two countries and an end to Russian tour operators selling trips to Turkey.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Valdimir Putin, said the behavior of the Turkish air force was “absolute madness” and said Ankara’s handling of the crisis reminded him of the “theater of the absurd,” Reuters reported.

“Nobody has the right to traitorously shoot down a Russian plane from behind,” Peskov said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Nov. 28 offered his first expression of regret over the shooting down of the Russian jet.

“We are truly saddened by this incident,” Erdogan said. “We wish it hadn’t happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened. I hope that something like this doesn’t occur again.”

Erdogan, however, did not apologize for the incident, saying “if we allow our sovereign rights to be violated … then the territory would no longer be our territory.”

  Ariha, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian imposes sanctions on Turkey, steps up air strikes near border, Vladimir Putin, WorldTribune.com