Syrian army enters key town as Turkey beefs up its troops

Syrian government troops entered a strategic town in the country’s last rebel stronghold Thursday after fierce clashes with opposition fighters, even as Turkey sent reinforcements seeking to curtail the offensive, Syrian state media reported.

The push by President Bashar Assad’s forces into towns and villages in the northwestern Idlib province has caused the displacement of more than a half million people in just over two months, compounding a humanitarian disaster in the region packed with internally displaced people. It has also angered Turkey and risked a military confrontation between Turkish and Syrian troops.

The town of Saraqeb, near the Turkish border, has been at the centre of intense fighting for days. Opposition fighters pushed out government soldiers who entered it Wednesday, while Turkey sent in new reinforcements Thursday and threatened to use force to compel the Syrian forces to retreat by the end of the month.

The town sits at the intersection of two major highways, one linking the capital Damascus to the north and another connecting the country’s west and east.

State news agency SANA and state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV said Syrian army units entered the town before nightfall and were combing it for remaining fighters and explosives.

The Syrian army had earlier besieged the town and at least four Turkish military posts set up to protect Saraqeb against the advance were also besieged.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group, said army units entered Saraqeb but had not yet taken control.

Video taken by The Associated Press showed rebel fighters lobbing shells at government troops from around the town of Binnish, northwest of Saraqeb. Fighters stacked artillery shells and burned tires.

Source: Syrian army enters key town as Turkey beefs up its troops | The Star