On Thursday, the Assad opposition forces recaptured the strategic town of Saraqeb in what would be the first major reverse for the Syrian army in a Russian-backed offensive that had made swift gains. The Turkish military is backing the offensive.
Three weeks ago, the Assad armed opposition lost the northwestern town at the junction of two main highways, following advances by the Syrian army in its push to retake the last large, rebel-held region in Syria after nine years of war.
Turkey has sent thousands of troops and heavy military hardware into Syria’s Idlib region in an unprecedented incursion to back the rebels against the offensive by Assad’s forces. Both Russia and Iran are fighting alongside the Assad army.
Nearly a million Syrians have fled over the last three months, the biggest exodus of the war.
Naji Mustafa, a spokesman for a Turkish-backed coalition of rebel factions, the National Liberation Front, said:
The city of Saraqeb has been liberated completely from Assad’s gangs.
However, a Russian military source cited by Russian news agencies denied that. The agency said Syrian government forces had successfully repelled a rebel attack on the town.
With Russian backing, government forces aided by Iranian militias have gained ground in northwest Syria since December.
According to observers on the ground, the Assad forces have seized about 60 towns and villages in southern Idlib and the adjoining province of Hama in the last three days.
Rebels said heavy fighting was still raging across areas the Assad forces supposedly secured recently.
TURKEY’S ULTIMATUM
Opposition sources said a counter offensive was underway.
The push on Saraqeb comes ahead of an end-February deadline set by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for Assad’s forces to pull back from territory that Ankara says is part of a buffer zone agreed with Russia.
Erdogan has said Turkey would otherwise drive them back.
Two Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Idlib on Wednesday. This brings to 18 the number of Turkish casualties in the region.
Turkish and Russian officials were going to hold a second day of talks in Ankara on Thursday. Two previous rounds in Ankara and Moscow have not yielded tangible progress.
As well as sending troops and truckloads of equipment into the region across its border, Ankara has set up new outposts in Idlib in what rebels say is preparation for a Turkish operation.
Turkey, which has already taken in 3.6 million Syrian refugees, says it cannot handle another influx. Turkey has sealed shut its border crossings with Syria.
Stuck at the border, some migrants have made homes along the wall, using it to prop up tents and shelters.
CAPTURE OF SARAQEB EASES PRESSURE ON OPPOSITION
Ibrahim al-Idlibi, an opposition figure in touch with the rebel factions, said Saraqeb’s seizure eases pressure on rebels, who in recent days lost significant territory in southern Idlib province and Jabal al Zawiya highlands.
Al-Idlibi said:
The rebels this morning completed their control of Saraqeb after having advanced from several fronts.
Saraqeb is at the junction of two main roads linking the capital of Damascus, Syria’s second largest city Aleppo and another highway west to the Mediterranean.
Taking back the M5 highway, which goes south to Damascus, had marked a big gain for Assad’s forces as they restored state control over the route between Syria’s two biggest cities for the first time in years of conflict.
Opening major highways in rebel hands has been a major goal of the Russian-led campaign. It helps Syria’s shattered economy.
General Ahmad Rahhal, a Syrian opposition defector, said:
The opposition have now cut the highways and brought the regime to square one.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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