BALADI NEWS
Syrian rebels backed by the Turkish military have seized the town of Nairab in northwest Syria’s Idlib province, Turkish and rebel officials said on Tuesday, the first area to be taken back from advancing Syrian regime forces.
Bashar al-Assad’s forces, supported by Russian air power, are trying to retake the last large rebel-held region in Syria after nine years of war. Nearly a million Syrians have been displaced by the latest fighting.
Turkey has responded by sending thousands of troops and equipment into the region to support the rebels in resisting the offensive.
“With the help of our Turkish friends, we have regained control of the strategic town of Nairab, the gateway of Saraqeb, after expelling the terrorist Russian militias,” Yusef Hamoud, spokesman for the Turkish-backed National Army, said.
A Turkish security official said the Turkish military had supported the rebel offensive with shelling and that bomb disposal teams and the rebels were now clearing the town, located about 12 miles (20 km) southeast of rebel-held Idlib city.
Their next goal was to capture the strategic town of Saraqeb, where Syria’s main north-south highway linking Damascus and Aleppo meets the road west to the Mediterranean.
“This will happen soon. The regime suffered heavy losses in the clashes last night. Also, a serious amount of weapons and ammunition was seized,” the Turkish official told Reuters.
He said there had been no clash between Turkish and Russian forces in Monday’s advance on Nairab and that no Turkish soldiers had lost their lives in the clashes.
Two weeks ago, the Turkish Defence Ministry said Syrian regime forces briefly abandoned Nairab as the Turkish-backed rebels advanced on the town. However, the rebels were subsequently pushed back from the area.
Since Turkey poured its forces into northwest Syria to halt the Syrian regime forces’ campaign, 17 members of the Turkish forces have been killed.
The fighting has strained ties between Turkey and Russia, which although backing opposing sides in Syria’s conflict had worked to contain the violence until the latest flare-up.
Source: Reuters.