Türkiye Brings in New Reinforcements to Syria’s Idlib

File photo of Turkish military reinforcements heading to Idlib.
File photo of Turkish military reinforcements heading to Idlib.
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Türkiye Brings in New Reinforcements to Syria’s Idlib

File photo of Turkish military reinforcements heading to Idlib.
File photo of Turkish military reinforcements heading to Idlib.

The Turkish army on Monday dispatched to their positions in Syria’s eastern Idlib new military reinforcements, including a number of vehicles, tanks and field artillery.
The Turkish military convoy entered Syria via the Kafr Lossin border crossing in northern Idlib. It was later dispatched to Turkish observation posts in Sarmeen, Banash, Nayrab and Taftanaz east the governorate in northwestern Syria. The new reinforcement aims to boost Turkish presence amid the military escalation in the area.
In the past few days, Syrian regime forces and their backed-militias stepped up their attacks on northwestern Syria. Forces stationed in the vicinity of Idlib targeted several neighborhoods in the east of the city with rockets and artillery.
Turkish media outlets quoted civil defense sources as saying that five civilians were injured by Syrian regime forces and their backed Iranian militias who fired at the Saraqib area and the village of Sarmeen in eastern Idlib governorate.
On Sunday, the Turkish forces had targeted positions of the government forces in the city of Saraqib in eastern Idlib with artillery, following a rocket strike carried out by the government forces on Idlib.
The injury of five civilians was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said that Syrian regime artillery forces had fired at Sarmeen city in eastern Idlib governorate. The shells struck the popular market in the city center near the Sarmeen High School for Girls and the ancient Grand ‘al-Kabir’ Mosque, it added.
The Observatory later mentioned that Turkish forces stationed in the “Putin-Erdogan” area fired missiles on regime positions in Saraqib and Khan Al-Sabl near the road between Damascus and Aleppo “M5.”
Meanwhile, regime forces fired highly explosive missiles on the frontlines of Al-Sirmaniya village in Hama countryside and Al-Sheikh Sandiyan village in Idlib countryside. However, no casualties were reported.
Syrian regime forces also bombed the villages of Sfuhn and Al-Baraa in Jabal al-Zawiya, south of Idlib, the villages of Kafar aama and Kafr Taal, west of Aleppo, and the Kabana area in Jabal al-Akrad, north of Latakia.
The regime forces then targeted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham positions in Jabal Al-Akrad.
For their part, Ansar al-Tawhid forces targeted the village of Al-Malaja in Jabal al-Zawiya, south of Idlib, with mortar shells, amid the hovering of intense Russian drones in Jabal al-Zawiya, Jabal Al-Akrad, and Al-Ghab plain in the Hama countryside.
In a separate development, the Turkish security forces “neutralized” five members of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday.
The YPG members were preparing for an attack in the Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring regions, the ministry said on X.



Iraq to Keep Crude Output at 1.4 million bpd amid Hormuz Tensions, Oil Minister Says

Technicians working at the Majnoon oil field in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters)
Technicians working at the Majnoon oil field in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters)
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Iraq to Keep Crude Output at 1.4 million bpd amid Hormuz Tensions, Oil Minister Says

Technicians working at the Majnoon oil field in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters)
Technicians working at the Majnoon oil field in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters)

Iraq has decided to continue producing crude oil at a level of 1.4 million barrels per day, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said on Thursday, according to its state news agency, Reuters reported.

The minister said that 200,000 barrels per day are being transported via reservoirs through Türkiye, Syria, and Jordan, noting that Iraq has put in place a plan to manage the current situation, especially after the events in the Strait of Hormuz.


51 Crew Rescued, 1 Dead after Attack on Tankers Off Iraq

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
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51 Crew Rescued, 1 Dead after Attack on Tankers Off Iraq

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)

More than 50 crew members were rescued after an attack on two oil tankers in Iraq's territorial waters, Farhan al-Fartousi of the port authorities told AFP.

Fartousi, from Iraq's General Company for Ports, said "all crew members of the two tankers were rescued," adding that the 51 workers were in good condition.

The attack killed at least one crew member, an Indian national.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had struck a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, which they claimed was US-owned, in the north of the Gulf.

The vessel, Safesea Vishnu, came under attack March 11 while operating near Basra, India’s embassy said.

The remaining 15 Indian crew members were evacuated and are safe, the embassy added.


Israel Orders Army to Prepare for 'Expanding' Lebanon Operations

A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
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Israel Orders Army to Prepare for 'Expanding' Lebanon Operations

A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
A man stands by the rubble of a destroyed building in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 12, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired a heavy barrage of rockets ⁠at Israel overnight.

"The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities," Katz was quoted as saying in a statement.

"I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said in a situation assessment, according to the statement from his ministry.

 

A man walks over blood stains, in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Ramlet al-Bayda at Corniche Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Claudia Greco

 

An Israeli strike hit a car Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Eight people were killed and 31 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

In Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometers south of Beirut, another three people were killed and a child was wounded in another early Israeli attack.

At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Health Ministry said.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah launched some 200 rockets at Israel’s north and deeper into the country overnight, the Israeli military says.

Many rockets were intercepted and no serious injuries were reported.