Swarms of drones, portable rocket launchers repel the assault of Idlib

Ankaras, its new emboldened allies, the 7,000-strong Syrian National Army, is now more numerous than the Islamist forces Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the conflict zone

REYHANLI on the TURKEY / SYRIA border Turkish planes shot down two Russian-made Syrian attack planes just Sunday hours after Damascus swore it would destroy any foreign military aircraft flying overhead.

The energetic maneuvers of Ankaras show that President Recep Tayyip Erdoans has the firm intention of confusing the assault of Syrian governments in the northwest province of Idlib.

The upsurge in fighting began in January after the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads displaced nearly a million civilians threatening to drive the nearly 4 million Sunni Muslims living in the crowded territory north to across the Turkish border.

But civilians who have become homeless several times say they are paying the price for the constant bombing of Idlib.

I was moved from Homs in 2017 and arrived in Binnish (8 km northeast of Idlib), but last week we also had to flee due to the escalation said Haya Shoirtany. Local NGOs are doing their best to provide food baskets, evacuate people from danger areas and help people find shelter.

A week ago, we saw people leaving their homes every day with nothing but their clothes because of the air strikes, the 18-year-old mother told The Media Line. But these days, we don't see new displacements because the regime doesn't take up new land. It is also because the fighting has completely emptied all the southern countryside towns of Idlib.

Ankaras, its new emboldened allies, the Syrian National Army (SNA), 7,000 strong, are now more numerous than the Islamist forces Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Organization or HTS) in the region.

Ankara officers estimate the HTS to be around 5,000 men.

The organization was previously committed to loyalty to Al-Qaida, but now defines itself as an independent Islamist group.

However, many local civilians accuse him of preventing the SNA from entering Idlib and losing territory to the regime.

Now the SNA is claiming victories on the battlefield, including shooting down Assads assault helicopters with missiles at their shoulders around Saraqeb, a town 10 miles east of 39; Idlib, which has suffered most of the government's assaults on the province.

The majority of our fighters in Idlib are in brigades formerly supported by the Americans, said SNA spokesman Major Yousef Hamoud on Sunday who spoke to The Media Line from his command post in the northwest. from Syria. We now receive weapons from Turkey that we use in addition to the firearms we captured from the Assad army.

We have tanks, armored vehicles, several rocket launchers and anti-personnel weapons with our soldiers deployed on the M5 highway from the southern Idlib countryside and overlooking from Mount Zawiya, said Hamoud.

As AAS fighters are deployed on Mount Zawiya, its hillside towns, including Maarat al-Numan, have been depopulated from the government's two-month attack.

Massive bombing and the scorched earth policies of governments in Idlib have forced people to leave their homes, displacing an additional million civilians, which puts us under pressure, said the SNA spokesman.

The continued reluctance of the West to support the Syrian rebels and the deadlock over a political solution to the conflict have led Turkey to open its borders to tens of thousands of migrants fleeing the conflict.

Turkey has the highest number of refugees in the world – around 3.2 million Syrians have been resettled there since 2011. Erdoan promised last Tuesday to turn Idlib into a safe place at all costs for the good of Turkey and the people of the region.

In recent days, its air force has used drones extensively to target Assad troops and Hezbollah militias.

Opposition channel Orient TV reported on Sunday Turkish drone attacks on Syrian military airports in Minaq, Al-Nayrab and Kuweires.

The chain claimed that Assad militiamen, including officers, were killed in the weekend drone strikes.

Brig. People. Burhan Ramoun and Ismael Ali and Colonel Mazar Farwati were targeted in an air strike by an unmanned combat aerial vehicle at Mount Zawiya in the Idlib campaign, according to the Orient based in the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, the Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed on Sunday that its forces had shot down two Sukhoi Su-24 attack planes and claimed that it had destroyed Assad's air defense systems after One of his drones was shot down.

The Syrian military high command announces the closure of airspace for airplanes and all drones over north-western Syria and in particular over the Idlib region, said on Sunday. Syrian Arab news agency, hours before the attack. Any aircraft entering our airspace will be treated as an enemy aircraft which will be shot down and prevented from achieving its objectives.

The Turkish drone swarm surprised Russian troops supporting Assad's forces.

Their forces are bombarding everything that moves, even motorcycles, said an unidentified Russian paratrooper who published a report on Twitter on Saturday about damage caused by a drone strike.

Just a few weeks ago, the Damascus government proclaimed its impending victories in the region, but on Thursday it rebelled against the rebels, Turkey and the Americans.

Idlib terrorists, with direct support from Turkey, use American-made shoulder missiles to target Syrian and Russian warplanes. At the same time, the Turkish regime offers support to terrorists through artillery and shoulder-to-shoulder missiles in battles along the axis of Saraqeb, a based officer told SANA in Damascus.

Ghassan Hitto, the first head of an interim government established by the Syrian National Opposition Coalition in 2013, says that Erdoan's anger for allowing several thousand to leave Turkey for Turkey Europe is displaced while Ankara hosts millions.

It is not fair to blame Turkey, Hitto told The Media Line. The United States could do a lot. Russia could do a lot. A simple action by Moscow to stop its aggression would solve the problem.

We must not lose sight of Assad, the Russians and the Iranians who violated the cease-fire, targeted the schools and hospitals as well as the UN who stood by watching more and more "Brutal mass atrocities," said the Syrian opposition leader.