Turkish, Syrian forces clash amid ‘normalization’ talk

Turkish and Syrian forces have engaged in direct clashes in Idlib, northwestern Syria, despite the recent talk of possible rapproachment between the two countries. 

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based war monitor, a Syrian soldier was injured late Monday following heavy artillery shelling by Turkish forces targeting the villages of Harbal, Kharbashah, and Al-Shaalah. These areas are within the deployment zones of Kurdish and Syrian forces in the northern countryside of Aleppo.  

SOHR also reported that Syrian forces used kamikaze drones to attack a Turkish military outpost in the town of Nayrab in Idlib, causing fuel tanks to catch fire. 

These reports come as the Syrian army and its allies have been intensely bombing the Idlib region since early July. Turkey has responded to these strikes for the first time.

‘Normalization’ being tested on the ground 

These clashes occur against the backdrop of potential 'normalization,' with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly expressing a willingness to mend ties with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. 

However, Assad has stipulated that any normalization must be predicated on Turkey's full withdrawal from Syrian territory and cessation of support for armed groups fighting Damascus. This has been the Syrian government’s posiiton for years. 

Turkey maintains more than 70 military outposts and thousands of troops in Idlib, the last jihadist stronghold in Syria. The region is primarily controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist group that evolved from al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front. HTS established the ‘Syrian Salvation Government’ to administer Idlib since January 2017. 

The Syrian government aims to secure key regions, such as the M4 highway, which connects the port city of Latakia with Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital.  

Since July 6, the Syrian army and its allies have intensified ground and air bombardments in the region to push jihadist groups out of southern Idlib's Jabal al-Zawiya area. The Syrian's objective includes opening the M4 highway fully to facilitate trade and military logistics. 

On July 22, heavy artillery exchanges occurred between the Syrian army and jihadist groups around several villages and towns in the strategic Ghab Plain. The Syrian army also launched kamikaze drone strikes on HTS targets in Sarmin and Nayrab.  

Several of the Syrian’s targeted areas are notably close to Turkish military bases, highlighting the risks to Turkish troops in the region. (VK)