New Turkish Military Convoy Sent to Borders with Syria

The Arabic-language al-Manar TV channel reported on Wednesday that the Turkish army sent a convoy of military equipment, including several artilleries, tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as special units of forces to Reihanli region in Hatay province bordering Syria on Tuesday.

Meantime, field sources reported that the Turkish army has also forwarded a large number of cement blocks to the border with Syria where its troops have been deployed.

The development came a few days after Moscow and Ankara made an agreement to set up a buffer zone in Idlib province.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in favor of deploying additional troops to the Syrian city of Idlib on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to create a demilitarized zone along the contact line between the armed opposition and government troops in Idlib by October 15.

“We will have 12 observation points in Idlib. However, we need to send additional troops there,” the foreign minister stated at a press conference in Ankara broadcasted by the NTV television channel.

Russia and Turkey will carry out coordinated patrols, with drones also taking part, Cavusoglu said.

“Terrorist groups will leave, heavy weapons will be withdrawn, civilians and moderate opposition with a small number of light weapons will remain. Turkey and Russia will jointly control this process. We will need to deploy additional military troops to Idlib,” Cavusoglu added.

Before the talks, Ankara reportedly sent reinforcement troops to Idlib province, increasing its presence in the country.

Idlib is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militants and al-Qaeda-linked terror groups in Syria.