Turkish rebels say they’ve regained Saraqeb
Syrian government army advances into southern Idlib region
AMMAN – Syrian rebels backed by Turkish forces said on Thursday they had recaptured the pivotal town of Saraqeb, marking a first big push-back of a Syrian government offensive.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said developments were turning in Ankara’s favor, three weeks after the armed rebel opposition lost the northwestern town at the crossroads of two main highways to the Russian-backed Syrian government forces. The Syrian army has pushed hard in recent months to retake the last large rebel-held region in northwestern Syria after nine years of war that has displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands.
Turkey has sent thousands of troops and heavy military hardware into Syria’s Idlib province in an incursion to back the rebels against the offensive by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Nearly a million Syrians have fled over the last three months, the biggest exodus of the war.
In Ankara, Erdogan said he would press on with the campaign as he announced that the death toll of the Turkish military forces in the region this month had risen to 21.
“Developments in Idlib have turned to our advantage. We have three martyrs, let them rest in peace. But on the other hand, the regime’s losses are very big,” Erdogan said. He further said, “Our battle will continue. Our talks with the Russians continue,” he said. “If there was no support from Russia or Iran, it would be impossible for Assad to stand.”
Earlier in the day, the Turkish-backed rebels said they made advances in Idlib. “The city of Saraqeb has been liberated completely from Assad’s gangs,” said Naji Mustafa, spokesman for a Turkish-backed coalition of rebel factions, the National Liberation Front.
A Russian military source cited by Russian news agencies denied that, saying Syrian government forces had successfully repelled a rebel attack on the town. A Turkish official subsequently said Assad’s forces, backed by Russian air power, had launched an operation to take back Saraqeb. “There are violent clashes,” he told Reuters.
With Russian backing, government forces aided by Iranian militias have gained ground in northwest Syria since December.
Government forces have seized about 60 towns and villages in southern Idlib and the adjoining province of Hama in the last three days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rebels said heavy fighting was still raging in an area that the army had controlled, backed by Iranian-militias. The new advances, the war monitor said, had secured control of all of southern Idlib for the pro-government forces. Opposition sources said a counter-offensive was underway.
The push on Saraqeb comes ahead of an end-of-February deadline set by Erdogan for Assad’s forces to pull back from territory that Ankara says is part of a buffer zone, which was agreed with Russia.
Erdogan has said
Turkey would otherwise drive them back and the spokesman of his AK Party, Omer Celik, said preparations were complete on Thursday.
“When the time to withdraw expires, the Turkish Armed Forces will carry out their duties based on the orders they receive and nobody should doubt our determination about this,” Celik said.
On Wednesday, Erdogan said he would probably meet
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul next Thursday to discuss Idlib. However, the Kremlin said Putin currently had no plans for such talks on that date. Celik said work on a date for the meeting was ongoing.
Turkish and Russian officials were holding a second day of talks in Ankara on Thursday. Two previous rounds in Ankara and Moscow have not yielded tangible progress. The two countries were discussing opening Russian-controlled air space in Idlib for armed and unarmed drones, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was quoted when addressing the media, but he added that problems over the issue persisted.
Ankara has set up new outposts in what rebels say is preparation for a Turkish operation. It has also been sending troops, tanks and artillery into the region across its border.
A senior opposition figure in touch with Turkey’s military said the Turkish-backed campaign would continue until the Syrian army was expelled from the buffer zone, and only then, will serious negotiations begin over a settlement.
Turkey, which has already taken in 3.6 million Syrian refugees, says it cannot handle another influx and has closed the border. Some migrants have made homes along the border wall, using it to prop up tents and shelters.
Ibrahim al-Idlibi, an opposition figure in touch with the rebel factions, said Saraqeb’s seizure eases pressure on rebels, who in recent days lost significant territory in southern Idlib province and Jabal al Zawiya highlands. Saraqeb is at the junction of two main roads linking the capital of Damascus – Syria’s second largest city – Aleppo and another highway west to the Mediterranean.
Taking back the M5 highway, which goes south to Damascus, had marked a big gain for Assad’s forces as they restored state control over the route between Syria’s two biggest cities for the first time in years of conflict. Opening highways in rebel hands to revive a shattered war economy has been a major goal of the Russian-led campaign.
“The opposition has now cut the highways and brought the regime to square one,” said Syrian opposition defector general Ahmad Rahhal.