TURKEY confirmed yesterday that its troops had entered Syria’s Idlib province — where chaos and bloodshed reached new extremes — on Sunday.

An armed forces statement said units had crossed the border for "reconnaissance activities."

Turkey announced the operation — in support of a “de-escalation zone” and in conjunction with the rebel Free Syrian Army, aiming to oust al-Qaida affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Hetesh) from the province — on Saturday, claiming approval from Syria’s allies Russia and Iran.

But yesterday Hetesh seized the northern town of Armanaz — seven miles from the Turkish border — from so-called “moderate” sectarian bloodletters Ahrar al-Sham.

The Hetesh assault was aided by jihadists of the Chinese Uighur-separatist Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) — whose infiltration into Syria was allegedly orchestrated by Turkey.

On the southern border of Idlib and Hama provinces, Hetesh and the TIP captured Abu Daleh on Sunday and threatened to behead all the residents of the town, accusing them of government sympathies.

Video footage showed residents bound and blindfolded in the back of a van, begging for their lives.

And Isis launched a surprise offensive against Hetesh in north-east Hama yesterday — north of the pocket of territory the army expelled them from over the weekend.

The death cult claimed it captured more than a dozen villages within hours — but Hetesh said it took four back in a counterattack.

The al-Qaida affiliate accused the government of allowing Isis safe passage. But video emerged on social media of Russian jihadist Abu Suleiman, captured by Hetesh in July, telling interpreters that his organisation had bribed their bosses to allow some 900 Isis extremists into the province.