A Turkish military convoy was hit yesterday by an air strike while heading to the south of Idlib province, according to Ankara, blaming Damascus for responsibility, while Damascus denounced the Turkish intervention and the continued support provided by the Turkish regime to terrorist groups, the day after the Syrian army made progress in the area and entered the city of Khan Sheikhon Strategy.
The arrival of these reinforcements drew official condemnation from Damascus, which said the convoy heading to Khan Sheikhoun was transporting "ammunition" to support armed factions in the area.
An AFP correspondent saw a Turkish convoy of about 50 armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers and logistic vehicles, as well as at least five tanks, on his way to Maarat al-Nu'man, 15 kilometers north of Khan Sheikhoun in the southern Idlib countryside.
In the afternoon, he reported that the convoy stopped on the Aleppo-Damascus international road in Maar Hattat village north of Khan Sheikhoun, referring to fierce shelling with warplanes, launchers and helicopter gunships targeting nearby areas.
The reinforcements came the day after the army, backed by Russian air support, entered the northwestern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun, where the completion of control would lead to the blockade of the neighboring northern countryside of Hama, where Turkey's largest observation posts are located in the town of Murk, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Turkish Defense Ministry yesterday strongly condemned the attack on its convoy, blaming the army.
"Despite repeated warnings to the Russian authorities, military operations by IDF forces in the Idlib area continue to violate existing memoranda and agreements with Russia," it said in a statement.
The Syrian Observatory reported, earlier yesterday, targeting a Russian plane for a pickup truck belonging to the opposition factions were exploring the road to the Turkish convoy on the northern outskirts of Maarat al-Numan, causing the death of a fighter from the opposition group «Levant» supported by Turkey. Arriving in the center of Maarat al-Nu'man, Syrian and Russian planes carried out strikes on the outskirts of the city "in an attempt to prevent the convoy from advancing," Rami Abdul Rahman, the observatory's director, told AFP.
The official SANA news agency quoted an official source at the Foreign Ministry condemning the entry of "Turkish vehicles loaded with ammunition en route to Khan Sheikhoun to help the defeated terrorists of Jabhat al-Nusra," adding that this "reaffirms the continued support provided by the Turkish regime to terrorist groups."
She pointed out that this «aggressive behavior» Turkey «will not affect in any way the determination and determination» army to «chase remnants of terrorists in Khan Sheikhoun».
Abdulrahman said the Turkish reinforcements were likely to be a "show of strength" from Ankara as Syrian army forces try to advance in Khan Sheikhoun and engage in fierce battles against the factions on their northwestern and eastern outskirts.
Army forces in the southern countryside of Idlib are moving on two axes, he said. "They are trying to expand their control points in Khan Sheikhoun towards the north of the city to control the international road," which connects Aleppo to Damascus and passes part of it in Idlib. It is now hundreds of meters separated by the observatory. On the other hand, Syrian Army forces are working to advance to Khan Sheikhoun from the east, which will enable them to impose a siege on the northern countryside of Hama, where the Turkish observation post is located in Murk.
In another context, the Kurdish self-administration in northeast Syria, yesterday, handed over four children from members of the family of «IS» to representatives of the German government, in the first such operation with Berlin.
"The self-administration handed over four German orphaned children from ISIS families to a delegation from the German government," said Fener Kait, an official in the external relations body of the self-administration. "Three of them are orphans, while the fourth mother is still alive," Kaait said.
In Berlin, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed to AFP that the four children had been handed over and left Syria, pointing out that the children were received at the Syrian-Iraqi border by a team from the (German) consulate in Erbil and would be handed over to their family members. Germany.
The three-year-old was three girls, including two sisters and a baby girl, whose mother agreed to transfer her because of her critical health, as well as a boy, according to Kurdish authorities. It is the first time Berlin has received members of the families of German extremists from the Kurdish autonomous administration in Syria.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry described the Turkish move as "aggressive behavior." Turkish military convoy in Idlib. AFB