FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers seen at the border town of Akcakale © Reuters / Murad Sezer
The Turkish military is training some 400 militants in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib on armored vehicles and battle tanks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on December 26.
According to the London-based monitoring group, the training course is being held at a Turkish military camp located near the town of Almastumah in the southern countryside of Idlib.
The SOHR said that all the militants taking part in the training course are from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. However, other news sources reported that members of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the de-facto ruler of Greater Idlib, are also participating in the course.
This was not the first such training course. Earlier this year, the Turkish military trained around 200 militants in Greater Idlib on the use of anti-tank weapons.
The Turkish military maintains more than 60 posts in Greater Idlib, supposedly to monitor to the ceasefire in the region. Yet, it has been supporting the militants occupying the region in every possible way.
Greater Idlib militants didn’t only receive training and military equipment from the Turkish military, but also direct fire support. This was very clear during the last battle in Greater Idlib between 2019 and 2020.
While the Turkish efforts to support Greater Idlib militants will lead to more escalation, it will not likely shift the balance of power in the battlefield.
There are no details. Are those 400 heavy armed infantery support or do they get tanks or what?
Go ask SOHR, they are in Coventry UK
The camps are more than likely somewhere else entirely. The SOHR is based in London, enough said.
They are very few. No excuses.