Turkey announced that they sent hundreds of additional special fores, along with tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, across the border into Syria’s Idlib Province. They are intended to reinforce Turkish military posts in northern Syria.
Turkish officials say that the intention is to deter the Syrian military from launching an offensive against the Idlib Province, which is under the control of various Islamist rebel factions, the largest of which is al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
Turkey is aligned with some of these fighters in supporting regime change in Syria. The US military also have their troops supporting Kurdish units in the same area.
Idlib and neighboring areas are the last major rebel enclave inside Syria. For Syria to recover the territory would effectively end the war, though doing so is likely to take a major offensive.
Syrian and Russian planes have been conducting air strikes along the outskirts, trying to soften up defenses before a ground invasion. There is no timetable for such an invasion.
In late April, chief of the main operations directorate of the Russian General Staff, Sergei Rudskoi, said that Syria would soon receive new air defense systems and promised that Russian specialists would help the Syrian military to master them.
Russia Insider.com / AB anada Flash Point Military News 2018.
