"Turkish Army's Elite Troops Arrive in Northern Syria"

FARS
September 23, 2018

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish Army sent tens of its elite forces to the Northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday few days after the endorsement of the Sochi agreement between Ankara and Moscow.

A battalion of the Turkish commandos crossed the Tonkli province border with Northwestern Syria and entered Idlib province.

The elite forces' dispatch to Idlib is allegedly aimed at reinvigoration of truce-monitoring points in the Northwestern province.

In the meantime field sources in Northern Syria reported that a new convoy of the Turkish troops, including elite forces, personnel-carrier vehicles and canons have been dispatched to Rayhanli region in Hatay province near the border with Western Idlib.

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in favor of deploying additional troops to the Syrian city of Idlib after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to create a demilitarized zone along the contact line between the armed opposition and government troops in Idlib by October 15.

"We will have 12 observation points in Idlib. However, we need to send additional troops there," the foreign minister stated at a press conference in Ankara broadcasted by the NTV television channel.

Russia and Turkey will carry out coordinated patrols, with drones also taking part, Cavusoglu said.

"Terrorist groups will leave, heavy weapons will be withdrawn, civilians and moderate opposition with a small number of light weapons will remain. Turkey and Russia will jointly control this process. We will need to deploy additional military troops to Idlib," Cavusoglu added.

Before the talks, Ankara reportedly sent reinforcement troops to Idlib province, increasing its presence in the country.

Idlib is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militants and al-Qaeda-linked terror groups in Syria.

[END REPORT]

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