HTS fighters in northern Lattakia
The Turkish military is planning to form a joint force with its proxies in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, Baladi News reported on March 29, citing sources with knowledge of the plan.
According to the sources, the Turkish military will form five commando brigades, three with the National Front for Liberation (NFL) and two with the Syrian National Army (SNA). These brigades will be “jointly” commanded by Turkish and Syrian officers.
Each one of the five commando brigades will consist of 1,500 Turkish soldiers and 1,500 Syrian militants. The new force will supposedly be named the Special Commandos Force (SCF). Training will reportedly be held in military facilities inside Turkey.
“The formation, which will have around 9,000 Syrian personnel, will be tasked with operations if the Russian-Turkish ceasefire was violated,” a source told the pro-opposition outlet.
Other sources claimed that the new force will actually work to implement the agreement, by securing the M4 highway. The strategic highway links the coastal city of Lattakia with Aleppo city in northern Syria.
The formation of a commando force of this scale will for sure challenge the influence of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Greater Idlib. However, the formation of this force appears to be a part of Turkey’s preparations for a new confrontation with the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies.
5 X 1,500 SNA/NFL = 7,500 fighters but the FSA may have as many 20,000 fighters as well, so in all an official total fighting force of about 15,000 fighters, unofficially with the FSA it’s about 35,000 fighters, so if they have to fight the designated terrorists HTS about 10,000, and Al Nusra about 20,000, as well as a few thousand other nut jobs, 35,000 in total, it’s a pretty even fight in numbers at least 35,000 versus 35,000, but if they don’t fight each other and instead combine forces, that’s more than 70,000 fighters for the SAA to deal with, and the Turks still have a few thousand soldiers manning all their OB posts and checkpoints as well, and they’re all armed to the teeth now. And there’s still at least 10,000 SNA/NFL fighters in Al Hasakah.
You should not believe what you hear from media. The terrorists have always made fake numbers for their troops to scare their enemies, which didn’t really work, I’ve seen these cases when the war erupted, and trust me, they are atleast doubling their number. Moreover, modern warfare isn’t about numbers anymore, ISIS was the most powerful, with a huge number of soldiers , now look at how they were reduced to ashes by the Syrian army and its allies. The battle of idleb is nearly over, they don’t have a chance anymore, and I doubt the Turkish army would do such a thing, unless they will use it outside of Syria. It’s obvious, idleb is for the Syrian army, and there are most likely only 3 days left until the actual battle starts, and turkey is obviously throwing its troops to their deaths while not being able to score any advances.
The turkish people is ready to the loss of life and money in hands of the crazy Erdogan……….big question!!!!
I totally agree with your comment, unlike how you called ISIS fighters “soldiers”.
by saa and allies .?wake up you dreaming dream again mohammad https://media2.giphy.com/media/js3SsYYvMiWLC/giphy.gif
I find it ironic honestly, maybe look in the mirror first.
You put this right.
I used minimal estimates to describe their forces, if I’d used the terrorists numbers they’d be nearly double my offered estimates. Unlike you I don’t think the SAA has a chance in hell of moving past the 6 km M4 highway buffer zone, and I don’t think they’ll even try, they may launch a limited campaign to retake northern Hama and a chunk of western Idlib all the way up to Maarrat al Numan, but that’s as far as they’ll go. They’re legally allowed to attack the designated terrorists without breaking the ceasefire agreement [not the moderate opposition], so I’m assuming that’s what they’ll do, which means all the terrorists that occupy any territory below the 6 km buffer zone will be eradicated without too much objection from either Erdogan or the UN. But don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see the SAA and Russia kick them all out, the terrorists, the moderate opposition, and the Turks, but sadly I don’t think it’ll ever happen now, Idlib has been turned into a fortress and the Turks have dug in for the long haul, Assad may have to find another way to reclaim his lost territory.
More complicate, il seems that Turks are preparing an offensive on Aleppo. Erdogan is a dangerous dreamer, far away from realities.
I used to agree with you but after his many years of success in Iraq and his fruitful partnership with the KRG, and then his 3 successive and victorious infrays into Syria, and lastly his new role in Libya which has given him access to the Cypriot oil and gas reserves, he’s proven that he’s anything but incompetent, if anything it’s people like me and you keep who keep misjudging him. I’m starting to realise that Erdogan’s a lot smarter than I am, he announces his megalomaniac intentions and I say it’s impossible, and then he proves me wrong over and over again. So either he’s the luckiest man alive and getting luckier every day, or he’s a lot smarter than anyone is giving him credit for. Or possibly it’s some one even smarter again pulling on Erdogan’s and a few others strings, the real puppet master behind it all.
I don’t think the Turks will attack the SAA now, they have everything they want already, they’re just digging in and making sure the SAA can’t get past them if the SAA try to push north. Two weeks ago the refugees were fleeing north and protesting at the Turkish border, now they’re back in the south protesting against the Russians and blowing up the highway, that’s a big change in just a few short weeks.
I kindly ask you to be patient my friend. This war is between turkey and 3 nations that proved to be battle hardened and ready to fight anything thrown at them. The offensive will start, one way or another, and jisr al shoghour will have to be liberated, there isn’t any other way for this. For now, wait for the offensive, and once it starts, you’ll see how valid my point is.
The Turkeys are using the Zionist SLA template to annex Idlib. The Zionists created similar puppet forces in South Lebanon under the scum Saad Haddad. Unless there is resistance soon, the Turkeys will succeed in annexing a wide belt of Syria’s best agricultural regions and oil fields. The goat fucker Erdogan has already suggested to the little Jew midget Putin that they can share the oil revenues. The Turkeys footprint in Syria is growing by the day and it will be very difficult to roll back now.
israel created the SLA………………and from occupation rise the Hezbollah….don´t was “Business as usual”………
So when did Turdogan say he would share Syrian oil with Putin? it didn’t happen,if it did Putin told him to go to hell.
Will be “South Lebanon 2020″…………SAA, kurds, arabs………all will fight back, doesn´t matter the cost!!!!
Kurds are too busy collaborating with the Americans.
Not all………..and they know, USA will go away……Syria NOT!!!!
Yes, maybe by 2080 USA will think to move away from middle east.
dont worry they all will be destroy by coronavirus
Erdogan must fuckoff from Syria territory and go back and fight coronavirus in Turkey.Erdogan was supposed to lockdown. But the greedy gaot fucker is behind Syrian wealth and territory annexation.
Exactly, Trukey with its terrorists are just preparing for attacking Syria arm, thanks to Russia-Turkey cease fire. So, this is very Maquialvelican case since Russia is given a lot of weapons to Syria to defense itself from Turkey, and Russiaa is allowing Turkey to mass weapons in Syria to attack SAA. Russia will only watch the war movie of both sides, I guess. However, in my dreams, I saw Russia destroying Turkey artillery, Turkey tanks and Trukey drons everwhere, and given a very strong air power support to ground troops to recover totally Idlib area, with a total SAA control of Turkey-Syria borders. At that moment, TurkeyStraam made me wake up and then a nightmare started.
So we now have an Isis turkey. Sounds like a seasonal dish.
Thanks to these groups, soon there won’t be a M4 highway but a series of gigantic potholes. Turkish units and terrorists joining forces was on the cards for a while and something the Syrian and Russian admin would have planned for. Turkey are just delaying the obvious, just in case their nato buddies send in the cavalry.
So Erdogan is asking his soldiers to become literal terrorists now. Fucking disgusting.
Never trust a Turk, they always stab you in the back – Balkan proverb
Confirmed – Syrian nation state