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Syrian Military Source Alleges Turkish Role In Idlib Offensive

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  • Syrian Military Source Alleges Turkish Role In Idlib Offensive

    SYRIAN MILITARY SOURCE ALLEGES TURKISH ROLE IN IDLIB OFFENSIVE

    March 30, 2015

    (Reuters) - A Syrian military source accused Turkey on Monday of
    helping Islamist rebels to stage an assault on Idlib, a provincial
    capital which fighters seized at the weekend.

    The source declined to comment on the situation in Idlib, citing
    security considerations, but a monitoring group has confirmed the al
    Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and allies now control Idlib and said the
    Syrian air force bombed the city on Monday.

    The fall of Idlib, 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border, marks
    only the second time in the Syrian civil war that Damascus has
    lost control of a provincial capital. The first was Raqqa, which
    the ultra-radical Islamic State group has turned into the de facto
    capital of its self-declared caliphate.

    Echoing more general comments by President Bashar al-Assad, the
    military source accused both Turkey and Jordan of supporting the
    insurgents in their Idlib offensive, saying they were "leading
    operations and planning them". The insurgents were using advanced
    communication apparatus that had been supplied to them via Turkey,
    the source added.

    The Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment.

    Turkey is one of the regional states most hostile to Assad, along
    with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In an interview with the U.S. network
    CBS, Assad described Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as a "Muslim
    Brotherhood fanatic" who was directly supporting insurgents
    "logistically and militarily" daily.

    Syria's government has not commented on the fall of Idlib, though
    the pro-government Watan newspaper published in Damascus reported on
    Monday that the Nusra Front and its allies had raised the al Qaeda
    flag over government buildings in the city.

    Nusra Front was joined by groups including the hardline Ahrar al-Sham
    in seizing Idlib on Saturday, a reminder of the pressures facing
    Damascus after more than four years of crisis.

    The Islamist alliance rejected a call by the Turkish-based
    mainstream political opposition to let an interim government set up
    its headquarters in Idlib, saying it would ruled by those "in the
    trenches and not in hotels".

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group, said
    warplanes staged a number of raids on Idlib. More than 170 people on
    both sides were killed in the fighting, including at least 126 Syrian
    insurgents, the Observatory said.

    GOVERNANCE QUESTION

    The setback for Assad in Idlib coincides with growing tension over
    Yemen between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one of Assad's firmest backers.

    Turkey has come out in support of a Saudi-led military intervention
    against Iranian-allied Houthis in Yemen.

    The Syrian conflict, in which an estimated 220,000 people have been
    killed, has been a major arena for Iranian-Saudi rivalry.

    The Nusra Front's influence in northwestern Syria has been expanding
    at the expense of mainstream rebel groups, some of which received U.S.

    military support. It is a rival of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot
    that has seized territory in both Syria and Iraq.

    Ahrar al-Sham issued a statement urging the people of Idlib to help
    fighters run the city and saying they were not seeking to set up an
    Islamic emirate.

    "There was an agreement by all factions to protect and ensure that
    essential services are continued," said an Ahrar al-Sham fighter who
    said he was speaking from Idlib during an interview conducted via
    the internet. He did not give his name.

    But there are many questions over how groups that won Idlib in a
    joint operation will run the city.

    "The rebels have certainly shown they can cooperate on the battlefield
    - that is not new - but the governance question has been much more
    difficult for them, particularly in the north, and particularly in
    Idlib province where Nusra has been asserting unilateral dominance,"
    said Noah Bonsey, a senior analyst with International Crisis Group.

    Mainstream rebel groups fighting Assad in southern Syria say they
    recently received increased support from his foreign enemies in
    response to a government offensive there.

    Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said the death toll among
    Syrian government forces and personnel was much lower than among
    insurgents. An opposition activist in the area said the government had
    withdrawn personnel and anything sensitive to the state in apparent
    anticipation of losing the city.

    http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/64723

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