https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e...dlib-32t7tpmrq
Erdogan’s 5,000 Turkish troops face Assad in Idlib
Turkey deployed thousands of troops towards the last significant front line of Syria’s civil war yesterday, threatening a direct confrontation with Assad regime forces who are advancing against jihadists and other rebels.........
President Erdogan summoned his defence minister, Hulusi Akar, to discuss the crisis, which has threatened open conflict with Syria for the first time in the nine-year war. Russian negotiators are also in Ankara. Fahrettin Altun, Mr Erdogan’s press chief, tweeted yesterday that the Turkish army would “crush anyone who dares to target our flag”.
Last week Mr Erdogan threatened to force Syria to return to the positions it held at the time of a ceasefire agreed in 2018 between Turkey, Russia and Iran. The three countries support different sides in the war but have close relations which they are determined to preserve. In an assault that began haltingly in April and has accelerated in the past two months, President Assad has seized nearly half of the Idlib pocket. The area, which was supposed to be protected by the ceasefire, comprises the province of Idlib and slivers of Aleppo and Latakia.......
Media close to the Turkish leader said that 5,000 troops, 500 of them special forces, had been deployed with tanks, mobile artillery and other support. Ten thousand rebels backed by Turkey have also been mobilised. These appeared to include fighters from the offensive last year against Kurdish positions in northeastern Syria. Turkish-Russian joint patrols in that area have been halted and forces supported by Turkey are reported to have withdrawn from some positions. Fuat Oktay, the vice-president, said Turkish soldiers would remain in Idlib “to give the necessary response to those flouting international law”.........