Ankara Orders Tahrir Al-Sham to Reinforce Military Positions in Idlib

Tuesday 11 June 2019

Ankara Orders Tahrir Al-Sham to Reinforce Military Positions in Idlib

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 10, 2019

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkey has ordered Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) to reinforce strategic military positions in Jbal al-Zawiyeh in Idlib province after it turned down Russia’s demand for withdrawing militants from the region, the Arabic-language media outlets said.

The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper wrote that with an aim to confront the Syrian Army in Northern Hama, Tahrir al-Sham has sent large volumes of its military equipment to al-Jolmeh to North of Mahradeh.

“Turkey’s intelligence body has asked Tahrir al-Sham and other terrorist groups in Northern Syria to reinforce its defense lines, including 50 towns and villages up to the city of Ariha in Aleppo-Lattakia international highway as clean-up operation by the Syrian and Russian armies in Jabal al-Zawiyeh in Idlib is imminent,” al-Watan quoted local and opposition sources in Idlib as saying.

The sources reiterated that Turkey’s operations room in Shir Mughar region in Jabal Shahshabou in Northern Hama where terrorists are constantly supported in terms of weapons, ammunition and intelligence has warned terrorists that the Syrian army might soon capture Jbal Shahshabou which overlooks Sahl al-Ghab in Northwestern Hama and towns to the South of Idlib and then advance towards Jabal al-Zawiyeh.

The al-Watan newspaper also further quoted the sources as saying that Russia had recently asked Turkey to make terrorists retreat from Jbal Shahshabou region in Northwestern Hama and Kabani town in Northeastern Lattakia which are regarded as the Southern and Western gates of Idlib, but Ankara has strongly turned down the demand.

Meantime, the Arabic-language al-Youm news website quoted media activists in Idlib province as saying that after supplying advanced weapons to terrorists, Ankara has ordered them to launch new attacks in Northern Hama to recapture the town of al-Saqilbieh.

In a relevant development on Saturday, Russia warned Turkey that it will provide military support for the Kurdish militias in Northern Aleppo in case Ankara continues supplying weapons and equipment to the terrorists against the Syrian army in Idlib province.

The Arabic-language al-Rai al-Youm news website quoted an informed source as saying on Friday that Ankara has received a clear warning from Moscow after it extended military support for Tahrir al-Sham and other terrorist groups in attacks against the Syrian army in Northern Hama and Southern Idlib.

It added that Moscow has cautioned Ankara that in case of continued supply of weapons and equipment to the terrorists in Idlib, it will provide the Kurdish forces in Tal Rafa’at with military support.

Based on the report, the Ankara-backed Faylaq al-Sham terrorist group receives weapons, military equipment and ammunition from Turkey and supplies them among the terrorist groups in different fronts across Northern Syria.

Syrian media said last Sunday that the Ankara-backed militants had infuriated Turkey for their poor performance and incapability to confront the Syrian Army and regain back the regions they had already lost to the government forces.

The Ankara’s fury came as the Syrian Army thwarted fresh attacks by the Turkey-backed militants in Northern Hama.

The Syrian army troops engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorist groups who had attacked their military positions in the surrounding areas of Jab Ramaleh in Northwestern Hama, and inflicted heavy losses on them after thwarting their attacks.

The Damascus army also destroyed four drones belonging to the terrorists in the outskirts of Jab Ramaleh.

A military source, meantime, pointed to the intensified attacks by the terrorists on the Syrian army’s military positions in the vicinity of Qala al-Maziq Northwest of Hama, and said that terrorists pounded the region and the town of Shatheh with several rockets.

It noted that the Syrian army responded to the terrorists’ attacks, and pounded their military positions and movements in Mourek, Kafar Zita, al-Latamaneh, Latmin, Tahtaya, al-Arabaeen, Hasraya, al-Zuka and al-Hobait in Northern and Northwestern Hama, destroying several of their centers.

The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper, meantime, quoted sources close to Ankara-backed National Liberation Front (NFL) terrorists as saying that Turkey was very angry with consecutive defeats by Tahrir al-Sham and other Ankara-backed militants in Northern and Northwestern battlefronts of Hama despite Turkey’s logistical aids.

It noted that Ankara is more concerned with terrorists’ incapability to resist and confront the Syrian Army’s military tactics as well as new the new wave of defection of terrorists’ enjoying Ankara’s support.