Russian military message to Turkey to withdraw its forces – Newspaper
Northern Syria – North-Press Agency
The UAE daily al-Khaleej reported about the Turkish presence in Syria in conjunction with the recent developments in Idlib, and it considered that this field progress would raise the issue of withdrawing the Turkish military presence from Syria, whether in coordination with the Syrian government or through unilateral movements, as it happened in its military intervention in the region.
Turkey began its military intervention in Syria on August 2016, calling the operation as “Euphrates Shield” to “counter-ISIS and curtail the Kurdish threats” on its southern borders.
Al-Khaleej newspaper described the intervention as “the beginning of a political and military dilemma”, and said that this “dilemma will expand and deepen continuously, as it’s approaching the climax with the end of the security liquidity, which was the prominent feature of northwestern Syria and the areas bordering Turkey, and the entry of the Syrian army to Khan Shaykhun.”
On the 8th of this month, Russian-backed Syrian government forces began field advance in southern Idlib countryside.
The mutual warnings between Russia and Turkey over Syria suggest a continuing escalation in Idlib, while reaching a “calmness” remains suspended as the battle in the region still ongoing.
Yesterday, Russia admitted for the first time the presence of its military forces in Idlib, as it threatened to respond to “any targeting of its military there,” which analysts considered a coded message to Turkey.
According to al-Khaleej newspaper, the air strike that targeted the Turkish military supply convoy in the middle of this week “was a clear warning message of the need to end and evacuate its military positions inside the Syrian territories, and to stop its support for the armed groups that it has established and armed, and for those who associated with terrorist groups.”
The latest reports indicate that pro-Ankara armed groups have withdrawn from Khan Shaykhun in southern Idlib and from the neighboring northern Hama countryside, “this withdrawal makes the largest Turkish observation post in the area under the Russian-Turkish understanding, besieged and isolated,” according to the newspaper.
The newspaper reported that the withdrawal of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Turkistan Islamic Party and other opposition groups came hours after the Syrian forces took control of more than half of the city with Russian aerial support, and it managed to block the international Aleppo – Damascus road, the main supply route for the Turkish forces.
The newspaper said that the Turkish government has no choice anymore to confront or deal with this new reality. Because its military presence on Syrian territories without legal cover violates the sovereignty of an independent state, therefore it’s in the face of the international sanctions, in addition to the collapsing of the Russian-Turkish de-escalation zones agreements, after Russia’s active engagement in ending the pro-Turkish armed presence in northwestern Syria.