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Turkey deploys more troops, sets up new observation posts in Idlib: war monitor
More fodder for the coronavirus...
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
 made new military deployments to the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib on Monday as festivities intensify between conflicting parties in the region, according to a war monitor which also reported fresh military deployments to the province by Ankara.

Turkey has set up four new targets observation posts in Idlib province in addition to the current 12 in the area, according to the British-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

"Reliable source informed SOHR that Ottoman Turkish forces set up four new military posts in Idlib province, in Ehsim, Kansafrah, and between Kansafrah and al-Bara and near Bssamis, all located in southern countryside of Idlib," SOHR reported.

Turkey has increased its presence in northwest Syria after more than a dozen of its soldiers were killed by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and allied groups in early February, pushing Ankara to deploy more than 3,000 armored vehicles and some 7,600 soldiers to Idlib and the neighbouring province of Aleppo, SOHR added.

North Press Agency (NPA), a media outlet with close ties to the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria also reported the new Ottoman Turkish observation posts.

Ottoman Turkish media reported the deployment of a 50-vehicle Ottoman Turkish convoy to Idlib on Monday, accompanied by members of pro-Turkey groups.

Several Ottoman Turkish outposts are now surrounded by regime forces - which has prompted threats from Ankara of a new offensive if Damascus does not withdraw by the end of the month.

Damascus has made huge gains in its recent attacks against HTS and Ottoman Turkish-backed groups, recapturing some 111 villages and towns - according to SOHR. They have also regained control of the M5 highway ‐ a crucial route linking the capital city of Damascus to Aleppo.

The latest regime gains have worried Turkey, which carried out new ground attacks on Monday targeting the regime-held town of Nayrab in eastern Idlib.

Pro-Ottoman Turkish groups now claim to have regained control of the town, SOHR reported on Monday evening.
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-02-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=564381