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Wednesday, August 8

Turkey tries to stop growing reconciliation between Idlib militants and Damascus

The title of this post reflects the last sentence in a FARS report today headlined "Terrorists Concerned about Growing Wave of Pro-Peace Activities in Northwestern Syria":
Turkey has recently ordered a number of terrorist groups to merge and form the National Liberation Front in Northern Syria.
It's long been apparent to close observers of the Syrian War that from the beginning it's been a proxy war staged by governments seeking to gain control of  Syria. The most recent illustration was the spectacularly fast collapse of anti-Damascus fighting groups in southwestern Syria after they received a clear message from the White House that they could no longer depend on U.S. help.

But this message ran counter to the designs of a powerful faction in Trump's own political party and in the U.S. Democratic party as well as a faction in the Pentagon and U.S. Department of State. It certainly ran counter to the designs of the British, French, Saudi, and Turkish regimes with a faction in Israel's regime bringing up the rear in recent years.

It's possible that the British, French, Israeli, and even American factions are at this stage simply trying to assist Saudi Arabia's designs on Syria. In any case I have yet to see evidence that they've given up. So in my view if they can't unseat the government in Syria they can still try to balkanize the country. I'd say that's most certainly the case for Turkey's regime.

FARS
August 8, 2018 - 3:25

TEHRAN (FNA)- Terrorist groups have widened their arrest operations against pro-peace activists in different regions in the Northwestern province of Idlib as a growing number of people and militants are demanding peace with the Syrian Army.

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) declared curfew in the villages and towns of al-Tamanna, Um Jalal, Khowein, Tahtaya, al-Sarj, al-Tah, al-Haditi, Halba, al-Rafa, Abu Hoba, Kafr Basin, Baboulin, Sahyan, al-Deir al-Sharqi, al-Sarman and Jajanaz in Southeastern Idlib.

Local sources said that Tahrir al-Sham's move to declare curfew is aimed at paving the grounds for conducting arrest operations in the region to detain those people who intend to join the peace agreement with the army.

In the meantime, militants of the National Liberation Front, another main terrorist coalition, are breaking into people's houses East of the town of Ma'arat al-Nu'aman in Southern Idlib, arresting those who had tried to join the peace plan in the region.

A fresh wave of fear has covered the terrorist front as the army is preparing to launch a large-scale operation in Idlib and a main part of the militant front has intensified efforts to join the reconciliation plan.

Local sources reported on Monday that terrorists of the National Liberation Front captured over fifty pro-peace activists accusing them of links to Damascus government.

The sources further said that the National Liberation Front has dispatched a large number of gunmen to Western and Eastern Hama and kept them on alert as their comrades in Idlib are concerned over the endorsement of a peace plan in their regions.

The Front, meantime, set up more checkpoints in al-Ghaab Plain and Shahshabou in Western Hama.

Turkey has recently ordered a number of terrorist groups to merge and form the National Liberation Front in Northern Syria.

[END REPORT]

See also: Turkish Army Turning Afrin Farms into Military Base; August 8, 2018, FARS

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