An adviser of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey has “fought Russia 16 times in the past, we will do it again.”

Mesut Hakki Casin, a professor at Istanbul’s Yeditepe University and a member of the foreign affairs board that advises Erdogan, said 25 million Muslims live in Russia.

He said Russia will be “dismembered from within,” according to a tweet posted by Ahval.

Russia is sending two warships carrying Kalibr cruise missiles to the Mediterranean Sea toward the Syrian coast amid mounting tensions between Russia, Turkey and Syria over the Syrian province of Idlib, the Russian Navy said Friday, February 28, according to The Moscow Times.

Ankara said Syrian government airstrikes killed 33 Turkish soldiers Thursday, bringing the death toll in Idlib to 54 Turkish soldiers this month.

Turkey has sent thousands of troops and military hardware into Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned of a full-scale offensive unless Russia-backed Syrian forces pulled back from Turkish observation posts in the region.