FILE IMAGE: yenisafak.com
Following a report by the Turkish state-run media that Russia, Iran and Turkey have reached an agreement to establish a de-escalation zone in Idlib province, more reports continued appearing in the media about the allegedly agreed deployment of Turkish forces in Syria.
A conservative pro-Erdogan Turkish newspaper, Yeni Şafak, released an article entitled “Idlib to be protected by 25,000 Turkish, FSA troops“.
According to the article, Turkish troops will be deployed in the province this month. Turkish forces will enter 35 to 50 km into Idlib province from the Turkish territory.
They will take control of one of the third agreed regions. The remaining two areas will be allegedly controlled by Russian and Iranian forces.
The area of the Turksih operation will reportedly be at least 35 kilometers wide and 130 kilometers long.
“The number of troops taking part in the operation along with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) will reach 25,000. The forces that will trek through Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib’s south and Dar az-Izza in Idlib’s west will control close to 5,000 square kilometers,” the article reads.
Trukish forces will reportedly control Taftanaz Airport, Jabal Arbain, Jabal Arbain, Taftanaz, Jisr al-Shughur, Ariha, Maarat al-Numaan, and Khan Sheikhoun as well as “be able to monitor Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in Afrin and terror formations in Latakia,” according to Yeni Şafak.
The recently appeared media reports are likely aimed to impact the ongoing negotiations process in Astana where Russia, Turkey and Iran are trying to reach some kind of deal that will allow to opress the activity of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda). Thus, the final agreement could look different to that what has been reported by pro-government Turkish media outlets.
turkey being trustworthy will be tested now … not feeling too good when turks are around as they are known to be double crossers in history
No they are not. Those who think that Putin forgot that S-24 doesn’t know much. Russia works with what it has in hand – “Turning enemies into neutrals, neutrals into friends and friends onto allies)
we will have to wait and see what turkey’s actions are because in the past, they have outright supported these terrorists themselves
Al Nusra will really like this..After they spent the past months eradicating any FSA remnants in Idlib they are unlikely to just give up now..
You mean the US/Israel backed mercenaries and operatives behind this phoney “Al Nusra” group.. This is all part of THEIR plan to chop the entire Idlib area off of Syria itself to create another smaller nation that weakens Syria and only benefits the psychotic state of Israel…
HTS forces are believed to be about 9,000 and still don’t control all of the region anymore , since an AAS faction who left in 2016 has left HTS. This is looking like these factions are breaking into those agreed areas and away from those whom are still not on the list to the agreement.
They already know when the fighting starts Afrin will probably expand and take two towns. I do wonder when SAA will launch north aleppo or western aleppo offensives.
We all Saw how long Euphrates Shield Took. And It was a bit shady for the most part when they got to Al Bab. The Question Is, How long can Euphrates Shield II Take? and Can they defeat Al Nusra Front?
The problem is, there were no trained FSA group within the Euphrates Shield. For the last 6 months, Turkey has been training an army called “United Free Syrian Army” or something along these lines. So far there are 35.000~ well-trained soldiers in this group.
I am assuming this force is way more capable than the ones in Al-Bab operation.
Second thing is; Euphrates Shield might have taken a long time but it was a great success. A huge amount of land were freed from ISIS with very minimal casulties. No modern army will rush things despite the casulties. All will try to minimalize the casulties.
Look at Raqqa operation. PKK has the 3x 4x numbers of Euphrates Shield forces yet its taking way too long time for them to capture the city. That’s because US is using the same tactic as Turkey. Slow, steady, low casulty advance.
Do you think they can beat Nusra?
Yes, but, hopefully Nusra gives up because there will be thousands of civilian casulties due to the fact that both Russia and Turkey will probably launch hundreds of air strikes.
Once again Russian negotiators exceeded my expectations. I expected them to cede half of idlib province To Turkish influence. They accepted one third.
Ultimately, this Turkish third cannot be re integrated into Syria. The Turks will try to hold local elections, but they will have a great difficulty promoting moderate leaders from the zealot militia there. The result is more terror, more religious police, more ethnic cleansing within their control.
But at least the Turks and the Syrians can stop fighting each other. 10 years from now, turkey will pullout completely, perhaps as part of new constitution multi party elections in Syria – which turkey wants a say in.
During these 10 years, they will fund anti Rojava rebels that will ruin America’s appetite for occupying northern syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEksgZqbsic
viva HTC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRFAWarvQ6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMmhmWcMpUE