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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has liberated the villages of Totah, Hjaila and Anij Bagra in northern Hama, the country’s defense ministry said on January 22.
On the same day, the SAA, the Tiger Forces and other pro-government factions further advanced on -Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the local branch of al-Qaeda) in the area of Abu al-Duhur and repelled the group’s attack on the town. Claims of pro-militant sources that the town or the airbase were recaptured from the SAA appeared to be fake. Army troops also liberated the villages of Jafr, Majas and Abu Murayr.
Government forces led by General Suheil al-Hassan have encircled 1,500 HTS militants in eastern Idlib, the Russian Defense Ministry announced. It added the SAA is working to eliminate this group. According to the ministry, the militants are armed with battle tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery pieces and mortars.
However, the ministry did not address the ISIS issue in the area. So, it is not clear if the provided number includes HTS members that had defected to the group.
According to Russian media, the SAA and its allies have killed over 600 militants in eastern Idlib and southern Aleppo over the last month.
On January 22, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) opened a new front against Kurdish militias east of Afrin and captured Birsaya Mount. This mount overlooks the town of Sharanli and the northeastern flank of Afrin. However, by the evening Turkey-led forces retreated from it after the FSA had abandoned its positions due to a YPG counter-attack.
On January 23, the TAF and the FSA launched another advance on Birsaya Mount. If they are able to secure it, Turkish forces will likely advance on Sharanli and then make an attempt to link with its positions in Ash Shaykh Khurus where they had achieved notable progress.
According to Turkish media, 6,400 service members are involved in Ankara’s military operation in Afrin.
The US wants to work with Turkey to create a kind of “security zone” in northwestern Syria, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on January 22.
“So we’re in discussions with the Turks and some of the forces on the ground as well as to how we can stabilize this situation and meet Turkey’s legitimate concerns for their security,” Tillerson said, according to a reporter travelling with him to Paris.
Washington will attempt to use Ankara’s Operation Olive Branch to expand its influence further in the area. Earlier this month, the State Department and the Pentagon were promoting an idea of 30,000-strong “border force” established with help of the SDF in northern Syria. Washington needed just few days to abandon this idea publicly and to start addressing so-called “legitimate concerns” of Ankara.
This situation once again highlighted the problem of competing interests between the sides described by Washington as its allies in the conflict: the Kurdish-dominated SDF that has strong separatist intensions and Turkey that sees SDF/YPG/YPJ/PKK as a threat to its national security.
Does anyone else see the irony in all this? Here we have the Turks finally having enough of the criminal US actions in northern Syria in regards to the Kurds, and now the US has the nerve to try to save their Kurdish forces by calling on Turkey to accept a “security zone” to protect these same Kurds?
The US is again showing their twisted and evil ways, obviously…
History repeats itself.
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Master strategist Tillerson ‘negotiating’ a Security Zone? It’s fucking land theft and ethnic cleansing Tillerson – same thing Turkey has been doing in Syria for years. Are you really that dim-witted? Your Syrian land theft scheme is failing, not theirs. The Turks are laughing their asses off at you. Get the fuck out of Syria and bring our troops back with you. It’s over – get it? Stop trying to ‘secure’ you damn loss. And for God’s sake, stop pretending to be the Kurd’s pals anymore – they’re not as stupid as Americans.
Considering that Russia by all accounts intervened in US assasanation attempt of Erdogan and the spoils of working with Russia on pipelines to supply Europe and reestablish trade stopped after the downing of Russian fighter jet the Empire has no clothes. turkey may be accomplishing a couple of things here, establishing a security to be taken over by Syria and eliminating PKK and terrorist Kurdish groups from uniting and declaring independence. Second thing may be the cleaning up and elimination of its own sponsered terrorist group FSA, so many have claimed Turkey speaks with forked tounge turns on and abandons allies as the US does. Just saying………
Maybe, given US disinterest, the US should keep its mouth shut on the subject of Afrin. Out of their zone and sphere of influence they said.
So just keep out little boys.
All Zionist terrorists will eventually leave Syria, either willingly or be driven out.its only a matter of time.
Look at Afghanistan, they are one the ground for 16(?) years now?
The whole world is the sphere of influence of the State Department, Pentagon and other american actors. According to their acts and talks…
It is also interesting that first the Pentagon anounced the building of this border-force, an unlogical, unwise, diplomatically stupid Pressrelease, following a dementi from the State Department. Both playing their own game on the same soil.
You still here, Hasbara agent? Your comments are annoying by now..
There is NO US “zone and sphere of Influence” in Syria simply because the US does not belong there at all.. The US has illegally invaded that sovereign nation and they have NO rights under international law to call any shots….
Russia and China should get more actively engaged in helping the Syrian goverment and tell the Turks to get out of Syria, stop interfering in Syria’s matters and give them a dead line to get out or it will be casus belli.
first things first. kick out americans, and the rest fwill them follow unasked.
Remember that the US is proposing this “security zone” to Turkey. There’s no guarantee that Erdogan would accept it.
Note “the security zone in North West Syria” there is the rub! Kurdistan requires an opening on the Meditrredian for a port to be of any use to US/Israel as proxies. Currently the Kurdish area especially is landlocked by the Syrian coalition & Turkey and they all have said “They would not allow another Israel in the ME!
There are two invaders in Syria, USA and Turkey. Both of them support terrorists groups. Why does this war happen right now ? Just when Syri-Russia-Hezbolah-Iran are winning in Ibil region. I have the inpression that USA-Turkey planned this to protect their terrorists, using the pretect of kurds (USA-puppets). Do not you think that the proposed not-fly zone is strange ?
I already said so from the beginning that the US is awfully silent on this. Then again if the Kurds all fine with it there’s no reason for us to liberate them. Syrians would have to do this the hard way sooner or later anyway.
There is no permanent Syrian policy of the united states, there never was. As so often, they only react to the situations created by their own mistakes. Syria has also shown that US foreign policy is “controlled” by several actors. The State Department with the President, the Pentagon, and of course the secret services crawling through every filthy crevice to promote the well-being of the people.
Indirectly, this is the reason why there is still a Syrian central state and why this civil war still exists.
Actually the “policy” was formed in the psychotic state of israel back in the 1980’s where they called for the expansion of the sick state of Israel under the “Greater Israel” project… That and the “securing the realm” blueprint for israeli domination of the entire region from 1996…
““So we’re in discussions with the Turks and some of the forces on the ground as well as to how we can stabilize this situation and meet Turkey’s legitimate concerns for their security,” Tillerson said, according to a reporter traveling with him to Paris”…TRANSLATION…I AM a war racketeer for GLOBALIST INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL BANKERS MAFIA. War Is my Racket.
in diplomatic language tillersons and matiis´s words are serious warning on address of turkey.
This not the time for real man to talk.WAIT
>>>“So we’re in discussions with the Turks and some of the forces on the ground as well as to how we can stabilize this situation and meet Turkey’s legitimate concerns for their security,” Tillerson said, according to a reporter travelling with him to Paris.
That’s right Rex….just hit the Putin/Lavrov Deconfliction agreement ….reset button. https://images.csmonitor.com/csmarchives/2009/03/article_photo1_57.jpg?alias=standard_600x400