The Syrian regime and opposition factions have deployed substantial military reinforcements to contact lines in Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo amid speculations of military operations restarting in the area, opposition military sources reported.
Opposition factions at the Operation Fath al-Mobin’s command center have recently started sending sizable military backup that included fighters, trainers, tanks, and equipment to positions along contact lines with regime forces in northwestern Syria.
Similar mobilization on part of regime forces was witnessed in Idlib’s Zawiya Mountain and Saraqib. Damascus also deployed military reinforcements to countryside regions in the Aleppo and Latakia governorates.
This coincided with the arrival of military reinforcements of the Iranian militias to the sites under their control in western Aleppo.
Reinforcements matched recent escalation of military operations between opposition factions and Syrian regime forces in the countryside of Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia. Over the course of a month, 16 operations were executed, 12 of which were carried out by opposition factions.
“Military operations against the Syrian regime forces began to escalate following recent Turkish statements about the path of rapprochement and reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus,” a senior Syrian opposition leader, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The leader also recalled the tripartite meeting that included the defense ministers of Türkiye, the Syrian regime and Russia in Moscow.
In northwestern Syria, Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions fear the danger posed by their ally, Ankara, moving towards reconciliation and normalization of ties with Damascus.
The Aleppo-based branch of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army announced in a statement its absolute rejection of any reconciliation with the Syrian regime.
The faction said it stood by the Syrian people and their legitimate demands, foremost of which is the overthrow of the Syrian regime. It stressed the need to implement UN resolutions and a full political transfer of power in Syria.
