On April 13, the Turkish Army and Turkish proxies launched an attempt to clear the M4 highway in southern Idlib from supporters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and other radical groups.
The Turkish attempt, most likely carried in order to demonstrate that it’s trying to implement the de-escalation deal reached in Moscow, faced a strong resistance among supporters of Idlib radicals. According to some reports (and a video above), even a firefight erupted in the area.
Turkish police are trying to break the sit-in on the M4 international road. pic.twitter.com/JaMWQY89Gj
— IDLIB POST (@IdlibEn) April 13, 2020
Stone clashes between sit-ins and Turkish police forces on the international road M4. pic.twitter.com/u9fv1CLbdI
— IDLIB POST (@IdlibEn) April 13, 2020
Under the March de-escalation deal between Turkey and Russia, Ankara had to neutralize radical militants in the area of southern Idlib and a security zone was set to be created along the M4 highway there. After this, Turkish and Russian forces had to launch joint patrols there. Nonetheless, this has not been done yet and ‘joint patrols’ are being conducted along a small chunck of the M4 highway near Saraqib only. The rest of southern Idlib remains in the hands of terrorists. Turkey does not want to launch a large-scale effort against them because the same groups are the core of its proxies in the region. At the same time, Ankara has to demonstrate somehow that it’s committed to the agreement. So, it regularly makes shy attempts to reopen the M4 highway there.
Click to see the full-size image
