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In the early hours of March 9, a unit of the Jaysh al-Ahrar attacked a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) west of the Christian town of al-Suqaylabiyah in the northern Hama countryside.
Jaysh al-Ahrar is a part of the National Front for Liberation (NFL). The coalition, which includes several radical groups, was founded in 2018 with direct support from Turkey.
In an official statement, the Turkish-backed group claimed that its fighters killed more than nine service members of the SAA in the course of the attack. The group said that one of the casualties was an officer.
Contrary to Jaysh al-Ahrar’s claims, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the SAA managed to repel the attack following heavy clashes.
“The clashes ended with the failure of the terrorist attack after killing and injuring most of the terrorists and forcing the rest to withdrew,” the SANA’s reporter in Hama said.
Jaysh al-Ahrar acknowledged that one of its prominent military commander were killed during the attack. The commander was identified as Mohamad Hamoud al-Mahmoud, who is known by his nom de guerre Abu Yosha Al-Wasatani.
Mohamad Hamoud al-Mahmoud “Abu Yosha al-Wasatani”
The new attack came only a day after the beginning of the Turkish military patrols within the demilitarized zone around Idlib. This reflects Turkey’s failure to implement its commitments under the September de-escalation agreement.
- More on this topic:Turkey To Open Damascus-Aleppo Highway Under Agreement With Russia: SOHR
Effing ridiculous. Drop the Father of all bombs on the shit hole, if it takes a few hundred Turks as well, so be it.
The annoncement by the Turks about DMZ patrols, and the patrols themselves, aren’t covered by the DMZ adreement. Which called for joint patrols with Russia in the DMZ, not unilateral patrols by Turkey.
This looks like a breach of the DMZ agreement terms by the Turks, to the extent that it’s even still in force. In a bait and switch misuse of the DMZ agreement to expand Turkish military control and block Syrian government coalition clearing operations.
This makes the Turks in non compliance for non implementation. And for violating the terms and conditions by engaging in unauthorized activity. For the purpose of solidifying the partition. And misappropriation of territory.
There is a meeting between the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers in a few days in Turkey. If the Turkish non implementation and unauthorised activity issues can’t be resolved. The DMZ agreement should be declared expired and null and void for material breach of the terms and conditions by the Turks.
Turkish and US special forces are coordinating these terrorist attacks on the Syrian government forces.