Turkey sends military reinforcements amid new escalation on frontlines in Syria’s Idlib

IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Turkish forces brought new reinforcements to the Idlib countryside in Syria's northwest on Thursday, amid mutual shelling between Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition groups.

Field sources reported to North Press that a Turkish military convoy entered the Syria on Thursday-Friday night, including 70 armored vehicles and trucks carrying military equipment from Kafr Losin border crossing headed towards Turkish observation posts deployed in the countryside of Idlib province.

The sources added that the armed opposition groups targeted Syrian government forces on Friday morning on the axis of the village of Hantoutin in Zawiya Mountain, southeast of Idlib, killing and wounding a number of soldiers.

Syrian forces drone struck the vicinity of the town of al-Bara in Zawiya Mountain, in conjunction with artillery shelling targeting the town on Thursday.

Local residents are increasingly worried about renewed fighting and new waves of displacement, according to warnings launched by the United Nations during the previous period.

The fighting had stopped in Idlib after the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in early March, but tensions recently escalated in conjunction with the return of Russian fighter jets to bombing the area about three months after the agreement.