Turkey’s General Staff Launches Military Op in Syria’s Idlib
Local Editor
Two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his military will help Free Syrian Army in the newly-launched anti-terror offensive, Turkey announced the official start of the operation in Syria's Idlib currently controlled by al-Nusra Front terrorists.
The Turkish General Staff announced the start of the operation in Syria's Idlib, adding that reconnaissance activities are underway, posts for control of the ceasefire are being established.
"According to the agreements reached in Astana on the creation of a de-escalation zone in Idlib, the Turkish Armed Forces as one of the countries-guarantors [of the ceasefire in Syria] started a reconnaissance operation to establish posts for the monitoring of the ceasefire on October 8," the Turkish General Staff said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.
The official announcement came after Erdogan said on Saturday that Ankara plans to deploy the country's soldiers to Syria's Idlib, where the Free Syrian Army militants backed by Ankara launched an operation. A day later, Erdogan said that "if we didn't take our measures, bombs would fall on our cities."
Currently, Idlib is mostly controlled by Tahrir al-Sham, a terrorist group led by al-Nusra Front terrorist group, al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate. The group is not party to the agreement on setting up a de-escalation zone in Idlib agreed upon during the Syrian peace talks in Astana.
Commenting on the Idlib operation on Sunday, the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, in his turn, said that Ankara's actions in Idlib are coordinated with Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry hasn't yet commented on Turkey's plans for an operation in Idlib, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week that Russia is ready to support armed groups fighting al-Nusra in Idlib de-escalation zone.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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