Rebel town’s capture reported in Syria

Turkish president warns Assad’s troops to pull back by month’s end

ANKARA, Turkey — Syrian government troops captured a key opposition town in the northwest Wednesday despite threats by Turkey’s president to use force if they don’t pull back by the end of the month, an observer group and a news network reported.

The town, Saraqeb, sits at the intersection of two major highways: one linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, to the north and another connecting the country’s west and east.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an opposition news network said Syrian government troops entered Saraqeb in the evening after an intense day of battling with opposition fighters, during which several Turkish observation posts were surrounded.

Later on Wednesday, the Observatory reported clashes inside the town between Syrian troops and opposition fighters. Turkish troops stationed north of Saraqeb shelled Syrian troops north and west of the town in an effort to break the Syrians’ hold, the Observatory said.

Syria’s state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported that government forces encircled Saraqeb after advancing toward the town from three directions. Some opposition fighters were reportedly still in the town.

The opposition-run Shaam news agency said Syrian troops had not yet entered Saraqeb.

Syrian forces have fought to open the Damascus-Aleppo highway, which rebels have shut down since 2012. Saraqeb is the last major rebel-held town in the way.

Turkey, a strong backer of some rebel groups in northwest Syria, has a dozen military observation posts in Idlib province, which borders Turkey. In recent days, Turkey has sent new troops and equipment, setting up posts around Saraqeb in an attempt to keep it from falling into Syrian government hands.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces have made advances into Idlib, the country’s last rebel stronghold, since December. The United Nations said more than 500,000 people have been displaced because of the violence.

“If the [Assad] regime does not retreat to areas behind the observations posts, Turkey will be forced to take matters into its own hands,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. He said two of the Turkish observation posts are now behind Syrian lines.

The opposition-run Baladi News Network also reported that the town fell under Syrian control, adding that Saraqeb came under intense Syrian and Russian fire. The Observatory said the opposition fighters withdrew from the town under heavy bombing.

Clashes between government forces and opposition fighters continued east of the highway, and north of Saraqeb, on Wednesday night. The staterun Syrian Arab News Agency reported that four civilians were killed in rebel shelling of an Aleppo city district that sits on the highway.

The United States, Britain and France requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the escalating situation in northwest Syria. The meeting is expected to take place this afternoon and include a briefing by the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, diplomats said Wednesday.

Erdogan spoke to members of his ruling party after clashes Monday between Turkish and Syrian troops inside Syria, which killed seven Turkish and 13 Syrian troops.

Erdogan later said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a late-night phone call Tuesday that the Syrian forces must retreat to a point agreed upon in a 2018 ceasefire deal.

Russia and Turkey agreed to a demilitarized zone in rebel-held Idlib in which Ankara and Moscow would use their forces to enforce a cease-fire and clear the highways restricted by rebel control. That ceasefire and subsequent truces didn’t survive repeated bouts of violence.

“This is a new era in Syria. Nothing can remain the same where the Turkish soldier’s blood has been shed,” Erdogan said. “If our soldiers’ safety cannot be ensured in Idlib, no one can deny our right to ensure it ourselves,” he added.

Erdogan also called for the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish forces from regions near Turkey’s border. He threatened to resume a Turkish military offensive that was launched into northern Syria last year against Kurdish militias.

Turkey regards the Kurdish forces as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents across the border in Turkey. But the Kurdish-led forces inside Syria had also partnered with the U.S. as an ally against the Islamic State militant group.

Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer and Albert Aji of The Associated Press.