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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Turkish Military Convoy Enters Syria’s Idlib

Turkish soldiers stand near armored vehicles near the Turkey-Syria border. (AFP)

A Turkish military convoy entered Syria’s northwestern opposition-held region of Syria on Wednesday.

At least 40 vehicles, including trucks and armored personnel carriers, were seen moving slowly south along a main highway under the cover of darkness.

The troops they were carrying are expected to be deployed at "observation posts" Turkey has already set up in opposition-held areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the vehicles were heading to Turkish monitoring posts, including in the southwestern parts of Idlib.

There was no word from Turkey on any reinforcements to the area.

It last sent a similar troop column into northern Syria just over a week ago.

Wednesday's convoy entered as the deadline for implementing a Turkish-Russian accord on the future of Syria's last major opposition bastion draws closer.

Last month, Moscow and Ankara agreed to set up a demilitarized zone ringing opposition territory to avert a threatened regime offensive.

All factions in the zone must withdraw heavy weapons by October 10, and radical groups must leave by October 15. It will then be monitored by Turkish troops and Russian military police.

The region's dominant armed group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by extremists of Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, has still not officially responded to the accord.

Turkey's main opposition allies, the National Liberation Front, gave the deal a cautious welcome before objecting to its provisions for a Russian troop presence inside the zone.

The NLF says it is still hammering out the details of the agreement's implementation with Ankara, and is wary that the current proposals would eat into their territory too much.

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