* Photo: Morek, one of Turkey's observation posts in Syria (AA-Archive)
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As reported by Reuters news agency yesterday (October 19), Turkey is withdrawing troops from its Morek military post in northwest Syria.
According to the report, the observation post was "surrounded by Syrian government forces last year." The agency has also shared the following details from the course of events in the region since 2018:
'Several other posts were surrounded'
"The observation post at Morek was one of a dozen set up by Turkish soldiers in 2018 under an ill-fated deal to calm fighting between Syrian government troops and Turkey-backed rebels controlling the northwestern Idlib region. Morek and several other Turkish posts were surrounded last year by advancing Syrian government forces.
"Ankara has kept them manned and re-supplied since then, while reinforcing the remaining rebel-held territory to hold back government forces and prevent millions of refugees streaming towards Turkey."
Referring to "two sources who are close to the operation, but asked not to be named," the agency has announced that the withdrawal started yesterday (October 19). "The Turkish armed forces are not considering evacuating another observation post at this stage," one of them has reportedly said.
They have also indicated that while withdrawing from Morek, Turkey is "consolidating its presence elsewhere in the region."
"The dismantling of the base has begun," a senior Syrian opposition figure close to Turkey has also told Reuters. It has been further commented that the withdrawal of Turkey was part of the country's efforts to" consolidate ceasefire lines" as agreed with Russia in March.
Russia's stance
Following the Sochi agreement, Turkey set up 12 observation posts in the region. Since May 2019, the Syrian government forces have gained more and more ground in the region and taken over 6 observation points.
One of the disagreements between Russia and Turkey about Syria was this until March 2020.
What did the agreement foresee?
Turkey and Russia agreed on a cease-fire in Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone on March 5, 2020. The agreement came after hours-long talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow. The protocol urged to "cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area starting from 00:01 of March 6, 2020."
A security corridor would be established 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) deep to the north and to the south from the M4 highway, according to the protocol.
"The specific parameters of the functioning of the security corridor would be agreed between the defense ministries of Turkey and Russia within 7 days," it noted. Joint patrols by Turkey and Russia would begin on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba, 2 kilometers to the west of Saraqib, to the settlement of Ain-Al-Havr, the protocol also said. (PT/SD)
