Syrian Army Recaptures More Regions in Hasaka as Kurds-Turkey Ceasefire Nears End

The units of the Syrian Army continued their deployment North-West of Hasaka province on Hasaka-Aleppo international highway.

The Damascus forces on Tuesday entered the village of al-Kozaleya West of Tel Tamar North-West of Hasaka province. The army troops also entered the villages of Shwaish, al-Nufaliyeh, al-Mahal, al-Badran, al-Hizam and Kahfet al-Marati in the Southwestern countryside of Tel Tamar, Northwest of Hasaka.

Also on Tuesday, President Bashar al-Assad met Syrian army personnel on frontlines of al-Habit town in Idlib province.

On Monday, the Damascus government sent a large number of army troops to Northeastern Syria amid reports about a new Ankara assault despite the deal.

According to a military source in Hasaka province, the Syrian Army has sent several reinforcements to the Tel Tamar, Ein Al-Arab (Kobani), Ain Issa and Al-Tabaqa fronts in order to fortify its positions and prevent any future advances by the Turkish Armed Forces and their militant allies in the region.

On Sunday, Syrian government troops deployed in Yalda castle Northwest of Tel Tamar town, which had been used as a base by US forces in the region, in addition to fortifying their positions in Tel Tamar-Al-Ahras area.

A five-day ceasefire was reached in negotiations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday, a week after Ankara and its allied militants launched a new military campaign in Northern Syria dubbed ‘Operation Peace Spring’ that has triggered widespread global condemnation.

Meantime, the Kurds have also struck an agreement with the Syrian government in a move to be shielded against the Turkish onslaught. The agreement envisages the dispatch of Syrian government troops to the Kurdish-held territories to receive control and block the incursion of the Turkish Army and its allied militants.

Though the Kurdish militias delivered control over a number of towns and villages to the Damascus army, including Manbij, Raqqa, and Kobani, they started giving up territories to the Turkish army instead of the Damascus troops last night.

Once US President Donald Trump declared a pullout of troops from the Kurdish regions in Northern Syria to leave the so-called allied militias alone in the face of the Turkish onslaught, the enraged Kurds cried out against Washington’s disloyalty and its instrumental use of the Kurdish population; yet now once again they have started compliance with the US-brokered agreement.

Damascus has repeatedly reiterated that any foreign troops in Syria is regarded as an occupying force and the Syrian government has the right to take all the needed measures to confront it. The government of President Bashar al-Assad has for several times stressed that “every inch” of the Syrian territory will be liberated from terrorists.