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Turkey Sends New Military Reinforcements to Idlib

A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on Oct. 20, 2020, after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images.
A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on Oct. 20, 2020, after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images.
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Turkey Sends New Military Reinforcements to Idlib

A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on Oct. 20, 2020, after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images.
A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on Oct. 20, 2020, after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images.

Turkey continued to dispatch military reinforcements to Syria's Idlib amid heavy regime strikes on Jabal Al-Zawiya.

A war monitor said that Turkey sent a military column via Kafr Losin crossing, north of Idlib, consisting of more than 20 vehicles on Friday.

The forces carried logistical equipment and concrete blocks that headed towards military posts.

Also on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has monitored the entry of another three military columns of Turkish forces, including 60 new vehicles.

According to SOHR, the number of military vehicles that entered Syrian territory since the start of the new ceasefire has reached 7,500, in addition to thousands of Turkish soldiers.

Since February, the number of military vehicles that arrived in the de-escalation zone rose to more than 10,755 Turkish trucks. This includes tanks, personnel carriers, armored vehicles and mobile bulletproof guard booths and military radars.

Meanwhile, Turkish forces targeted Kurdish-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

Turkish rockets hit the surrounding areas of Menagh military airbase, but no casualties have been reported, according to SOHR.

Also, activists said that Turkish forces stationed at the base in Azaz countryside shelled Kurdish positions in the village of Maranaz.

The Turkish bombardment coincided with infiltration attempts and clashes between Turkish-backed factions and Kurdish forces on the frontlines of Maranaz, Belyouniya and Ain Daqneh, north of Aleppo.

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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.