February 27, 2020

TURKEY: Russia Accuses Turkey Of Violating Syria Deal By Supporting Rebels With Artillery. Russian Forces Helping Syria Attacked Turkish Army In Syria Killing 33 Turkish Soldiers. Turkey Retaliated.

Bloomberg News
written by Onur Ant
Thursday February 27, 2020

Turkey and Russia are inching toward direct confrontation in Syria after an attack on Turkish positions in the war-torn nation killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers on Thursday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a crisis meeting with his top security officials after Turkey’s military suffered its biggest single-day losses in an airstrike on their forces in Syria. Turkey will hit “all regime targets” using ground and air forces in retaliation, Erdogan’s office said after the meeting. As the toll of soldiers killed in the ambush rose, 32 others were wounded NTV reported on Friday, citing Rahmi Dogan, governor of Turkish border city Hatay.

Turkey repeated calls upon Western allies for backing in the wake of Thursday’s clashes, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaking to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Turkey has urged the U.S. and EU powers to increase their support in the face of attacks on Turkish soldiers by Syrian forces operating under Russian air cover. But Erdogan’s efforts to drum up aid from his NATO partners that could strengthen his position have come to naught as he’s tried to persuade Russia’s Vladimir Putin to drop support for the regime in Damascus.

At stake is not only Turkey’s national security but also millions of Syrians who are likely to seek refuge in Turkey and in Europe as they escape Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria. The latest attack makes it even more difficult for Turkey to prevent Syrian migrants from seeking refuge elsewhere, a senior Erdogan ally said, signaling growing frustration with European inaction.

“Major escalation,” Tim Ash, a strategist at BlueBay Asset Management in London, said after Thursday’s clashes. “Turkey and Russia could be on the brink of actual war. It has been coming for a while. Where is NATO?”

Crisis Meeting

Erdogan met with his Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and top security officials from the military and intelligence agency for two hours following the clashes. Earlier in the day, Turkey said the rebels it supports retook the town of Saraqib from Syrian regime forces. After the meeting, Akar and the military’s top brass traveled to the Syrian border, NTV said.

Turkish soldiers were stationed at several outposts in Idlib under a 2017 agreement with Russia and Iran to monitor a combat-free zone. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have intensified attacks on rebel positions in the province in recent weeks, with some Turkish posts having been encircled.

Erdogan has pledged to push back Syrian forces should they fail to lift their siege on Turkish posts by the end of this month and lobbied U.S and European powers to bring pressure to bear on both Syria and Russia. Turkey has asked the U.S. to deploy Patriot missiles on the border with Syria to deter Russian air forces operating around Idlib, though Erdogan has already acknowledged that his request from the U.S. isn’t likely to be fulfilled.

Refugee Exodus

Since the U.S. withdrew its forces in October, Syria has become a big-power struggle between Russia and Turkey, which maintains NATO’s second-largest army, and Thursday’s attack raises the stakes significantly.

Turkey, already the biggest host of refugees with more than 3.5 million Syrians accepted, says it can’t take any more if the Russian-backed attacks in Idlib unleash another wave. Hundreds of thousands are already on the move toward Turkey and the total number could exceed 2 million, Erdogan has said.

Europe, and Germany in particular, will be watching developments with growing alarm. The prospect of Turkey waving through a flood of Syrian refugees through its borders is precisely what Chancellor Angela Merkel had hoped to avert and will further stoke anti-immigrant populist sentiment across the continent.

Her open-door policy to Syria refugees back in 2015 fatally weakened her 15-year hold on power and unleashed the country’s far-right forces. Germany is now in the throes of a political battle where the pressure is building to take the country in a more conservative direction.

Within hours of Thursday’s attack, spokesman of Erdogan’s ruling party Omer Celik said Turkey’s policy on Syrian refugees remains unchanged but that it’s getting increasingly difficult to “hold” them.
Daily Sabah News, Turkey
written by DS Staff and wires
Friday February 28, 2020

Turkey early Friday carried out missile attacks on targets in Syria's central Hama, northwestern towns of Nubl and Zahraa, as well as in regime and Russian bastion, Latakia, in response to the Assad regime airstrike that killed 22 Turkish soldiers.

The military also pounded Assad regime targets with artillery along the frontline in Idlib.

Earlier in the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan convened an emergency meeting over tensions in the war-ravaged Syrian city.

Security sources told Daily Sabah that all ministers and senior officials, including the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan, were present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Communications released a statement on the Turkish offensive against Syrian regime forces.

It said Turkish forces have neutralized at least 1,709 Assad regime soldiers, as well as 55 tanks, three helicopters, 18 armored vehicles, 29 howitzers, 21 military vehicles, six ammunition depots, seven mortars and four Soviet-made DShK heavy machine guns.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

But more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone since then as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

More than 1 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to some intense attacks.
Daily Sabah News, Turkey
written by DS Staff and Reuters
Friday February 28, 2020

Turkey has decided to no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land and sea, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday, in anticipation of the imminent arrival of refugees from Syria's Idlib where nearly a million have been displaced.

Turkish police, coast guard and border security officials have been ordered to stand down, the Turkish official added.

Earlier on Thursday, border town Hatay's governor Rahmi Doğan said that an Assad regime attack on Turkish military in Idlib killed twenty-two soldiers.

Earlier on the same day President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan convened an emergency meeting over tensions in the war-ravaged Syrian city.

Security sources told Daily Sabah that all ministers and senior officials, including the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan, were present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Communications released a statement on the Turkish offensive against Syrian regime forces.

It said Turkish forces have neutralized at least 1,709 Assad regime soldiers, as well as 55 tanks, three helicopters, 18 armored vehicles, 29 howitzers, 21 military vehicles, six ammunition depots, seven mortars and four Soviet-made DShK heavy machine guns.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

But more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone since then as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

More than 1 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to some intense attacks.
UPDATE 2/27/20 at 8:03pm: Added info below.
UPDATE 2/27/20 at 8:56pm: Added info below.

Sky News published Nov 10, 2019: 'We're going to slaughter you': The children of Syria's Islamic State (ISIS) camp.

Mark Stone visits a refugee camp in northern Syria where 70,000 ISIS women and children are living.

One child, who appears to be under 10 years old, asks our team to repent their sins and calmly says: "We're going to kill you by slaughtering you. We will slaughter you."

The camp is a holding centre for the women and children who emerged from the IS “caliphate” when it fell in March.

Although the al Hol camp was supposed to be temporary, many people remain in the camp in squalid conditions.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 7:24 PM

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