The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces are amassing their troops and equipment near the town of Ayn Issa in northern Raqqah. This town, located near the crossroad of the M4 highway and the Sanliurfa-Raqqah road, has been the target of Turkish expansionist efforts for a long while. Nonetheless, the Turkish Army and its proxies failed to capture it during the active phase of their Operation Peace Spring on October 9-22, 2019. Since then, they have been drawing up plans on how to push back the Syrian Army from Ayn Issa and to seize control of at least a part of the M4 highway there. Another such high priority target for Turkey is the town of Tell Tamr located on the road to Al-Hasakah.
Over the past week, the Turkish Army and Turkish-backed groups have significantly strengthened their strike force north of Ayn Issa. This move was made simultaneously with the start of Turkey’s Operation Claw-Tiger against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Syrian sources expect that Turkey may use the recent escalation of its war on the PKK to make another attempt to expand its control zone in northeastern Syria under some pretext or other.
ISIS cells continue their attacks on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Late on June 17, an IED explosion destroyed a vehicle of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the village of Ruwaishid killing at least one person. Another ISIS attack reportedly took place near as Suwayr, when ISIS gunmen shelled an SDF checkpoint.
The military situation in southern Idlib remains relatively calm despite provocations from radical militant groups. Fa Ithbatu, a new al-Qaeda-linked coalition formed by Turkish-protected militants, is yet to take any real action against the Syrian Army despite loud statements.
Wa-Harid al-Mu’minin, which preceded Fa Ithbatu, claimed that it had carried out at least 547 attacks on government forces killing at least 950 government fighters over the past 20 months. However, these claims are hardly consistent with reality.
Meanwhile, Turkey has continued to send its proxies from groups deployed in Idlib and Afrin to Libya in order to support the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. According to reports, the total number of militants deployed or trained for the deployment has reached 14,000. At least 400 of these have already died in fighting against the Libyan National Army. This factor would also undermine the offensive capabilities of Idlib groups in the event of a new confrontation with the Syrian Army.
Erdogan and his merry band of murderers act just like Israel and just like Israel, they do pretty much anything they want on foreign land.
Of course it’s a very similar mindset.
The Levant and Tripolitania (coastal area of present day Libya) were liberated from Ottoman rule in the early 1920s. Erdogan sees it as his god-given mission to re-conquer these lands 100 years later. To do this, he has built up a mighty mercenary army. It is very destabilising for the entire region…
Yes and the problem is they are not being stopped,that ceasefire in Idlib should never have happened,the SAA were on a roll,now the Turds and their terrorists are well dug in.
The entrenchment in Idlib is not just military but also economic:
Turkey has flooded Idlib with their own currency in the wake of the Syrian pound collapse due to US Ceasar sanctions. Apparently Turkey operates the postal service in Idlib which is feeding the Turkish lira into the local economy.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1691991/middle-east
https://theduran.com/the-us-supports-new-kurdish-unity-to-destabilize-the-middle-east/
Appears to be a useful summary te north east Syria and Kurds etc.