Report: More Turkish troops in Syrian rebel province

BEIRUT — Turkey sent in military reinforcements Thursday to beef up its positions inside Syria’s last rebel bastion Idlib, activists reported, even as the Turkish defense minister said Ankara is still trying with Russia and Iran to prevent a humanitarian tragedy in the case of a threatened Syrian government offensive.

Hulusi Akar, the Turkish defense minister, said a military operation in the densely populated rebel enclave would drag the already problematic region toward disaster. He spoke during a meeting with foreign ambassadors late Wednesday, according to the state-run Turkish Anadolu Agency.

“We are working with Russia, Iran and other allies to bring peace and stability and to stop a humanitarian tragedy,” Akar said, according to Anadolu.

The United Nations said that in the first 12 days of September, more than 30,000 people have been internally displaced by an intense aerial bombing campaign. Most of the displaced headed toward the border with Turkey, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, packing already overcrowded camps there.

Nearly half of Idlib’s 3 million are already displaced by conflict in other parts of Syria.

In the case of an offensive, the U.N. estimates nearly 700,000 will be displaced inside Idlib, and about 100,000 are expected to head to nearby government-held areas.