Assad vows to conquer all of Syria after fall of rebel town
The recapture of Khan Sheikhoun after five years has buoyed dictator, but raises tensions with Turkey
BASHAR AL-ASSAD yesterday vowed to recapture all of Syria as his forces made significant battlefield gains and drove rebels out of a strategic town he once attacked with chemical weapons.
Syrian regime troops pushed rebel forces from Khan Sheikhoun, where Assad’s jets dropped chemical weapons and killed nearly 100 people in 2017, prompting the US to launch retaliatory airstrikes.
The town has been under rebel control since 2014 and its fall is a major victory for the Syrian dictator as his troops attempt to conquer Idlib, the last opposition-held province.
Rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir alsham, a jihadist group linked to alqaeda, said they were retreating south of the town but would continue fighting Assad’s advancing troops.
Meanwhile, regime troops advanced into the outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun but had yet to fully occupy it.
Speaking at a meeting with MPS from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party yesterday, Assad hailed his forces’ progress.
“The victories that were achieved prove the determination of the people and the army to defeat terrorists until the liberation of the last inch of Syrian territory,” he said.
He also accused Turkey and Western states of supporting jihadist groups.
Tensions between Turkey and the Syrian regime have risen sharply as Assad’s forces drive into Idlib, where the Turkish military has 12 outposts.
Regime jets bombed near a Turkish military convoy on Monday, killing three civilians, according to Turkey’s defence ministry.
The fall of Khan Sheikhoun means one of the Turkish outposts is now surrounded by regime forces.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said that his country would not withdraw from the outpost at Morek and warned the Syrian regime not to interfere with it.
“We don’t have an intention such as moving this elsewhere,” Mr Cavusoglu said. “We will do whatever is necessary for the security of our own soldiers and observation posts.”
Turkey says it established the outposts to counter jihadist groups and help enforce a ceasefire it brokered alongside Russia.
The Syrian regime says the outposts are a violation of its sovereignty but has refrained from directly attacking them.
However, as the regime advances further into Idlib, chances of a direct confrontation with Turkish forces seem to be rising.
Assad’s forces launched their offensive against Idlib in April but made relatively little progress until the last few weeks, when they have advanced rapidly with Russian air support.
About 500 civilians have been killed since the offensive began, including more than 100 children, according to aid groups. The fighting has displaced over 500,000 people.
Khan Sheikhoun was seen as an important symbol of opposition to Assad by rebel supporters. “One of the revolution’s castles is occupied by its destroyers,” said one Syrian man in Idlib.
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) remains a threat in Syria and Iraq but has lost much of its ability to carry out attacks on the West.
“There are places where [Isil] is more powerful today than it was three or four years ago,” Mr Pompeo said. “But the caliphate is gone in their capacity to conduct external attacks.”
The jihadist group was driven from its last territorial stronghold this year but continues to mount insurgency attacks in both Iraq and Syria.