Turkey deploys further military reinforcements to Syrian border

The Turkish military has sent new reinforcements to the country’s areas on the border with Syria’s militant-held Province of Idlib as Ankara is preparing for a military operation against US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from the war-torn country.

Turkey's private Demiroren news agency reported that battle tanks and armored vehicles were loaded onto trucks on Saturday, and dispatched to the southern Turkish Province of Hatay.

The development came on the same day that Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and top-brass military officials, namely Chief of General Staff General Yasar Guler and Land Forces Commander General Umit Dundar, in addition to Head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan, held a meeting in Hatay and exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments in Syria's Idlib.

“All efforts are being made to maintain ceasefire, stability under Sochi agreement. Our close cooperation with Russia continues in this manner,” Akar said.

On September 17, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Russia’s coastal city of Sochi, and agreed to divide Idlib into a demilitarized zone between militant-held and government-controlled areas.

Also on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo, and the pair discussed latest developments in Syria.

On Thursday, Cavusoglu said his country would launch an offensive against YPG forces, in case the US delayed the planned withdrawal of its troops from Syria.

The top Turkish diplomat then underlined that the Ankara government would go ahead with its incursion plan.

Cavusoglu said Ankara would fight the YPG whether or not US soldiers pulled out of Syria.

ME