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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.
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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.

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Fishers at a Lebanese Port Hope Ceasefire with Israel Means Normal Life is Returning

Most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the Tyre port have not sailed out of concern since the Israeli army in October barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers from the order. (AP)
Most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the Tyre port have not sailed out of concern since the Israeli army in October barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers from the order. (AP)
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Fishers at a Lebanese Port Hope Ceasefire with Israel Means Normal Life is Returning

Most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the Tyre port have not sailed out of concern since the Israeli army in October barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers from the order. (AP)
Most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the Tyre port have not sailed out of concern since the Israeli army in October barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers from the order. (AP)

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought hope for normality back to many in southern Lebanon on Friday, including fishermen who have long launched their single-engine wooden boats into the Mediterranean at dawn.
During the last two months of its year fighting Hezbollah, Israel imposed a siege on southern Lebanon that kept hundreds of fishers at this ancient Phoenician port on shore, upending their lives and the industry.
While less important than destruction and displacement, the port siege cut many people off from the key ingredients for traditional Lebanese dishes like sayadiyeh — fish and rice boiled in fish sauce — or fried and grilled fish eaten with dips such as hummus and tabbouleh or fattoush salads.
The loss of fish damaged a deep association with home, but now the possibility of renewed Lebanese fishing on the country's southern coast is helping fuel hope for a brighter future.
On Friday, a few boats went out close to the shore as fishers in the port worked on the nets of small boats painted white, blue or red.
Hussein Sukmani, 55, said Friday that he was considering going to sea in coming days but was waiting to see how things unfold.
He hasn't dared set sail since the Israel-Hezbollah war dramatically intensified on Sept. 23. “They were days of fear and horror,” he said. "They were the most difficult days of our lives.”
A week ago, a drone strike killed two young fishers in the city as they prepared their nets on the coast, and some fishermen said Friday that the Lebanese army told them that if they headed out it would be at their own risk .
Among those who sailed near the coast on Friday was Walid Darwish, who returned to the port with two plastic boxes filled with mullet.
“Today is the first time that we sail,” Darwish said, adding that fishers had missed the prime season in October and November.
“We lost it,” he said.
The Israeli army barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the border in October and has not said whether the warning is still in effect.
Sukmani said that most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the port have not sailed out of concern since then.
The area around the port is a predominantly Christian neighborhood that has been spared much of the airstrikes on other parts of Tyre that leveled buildings in this city.
In peaceful times, the port is a major tourist attraction, beloved by Lebanese and foreigners who come for the views, the restaurants and the beaches.
On Friday, Mohammed Hammoud walked along the coast of Tyre carrying his fishing rod.
“It is enough that someone is able to stand in this beautiful area,” he said, pointing to the white sands. “Fishing is everything for me,” added Hammoud, who went to fish several times in the area north of the city of Sidon that was not part of the siege.
In the old market of Tyre, Gilbert Spiridon watched from inside his shop as people came to buy freshly brought fish. Before the war, it took hours to sell all his fish to people from around Lebanon.
“All I wish is that the war has ended and we are back on track to the old good days,” he said.