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TURKISH ARMY CROSSES SYRIAN BORDER INTO IDLIB, ENGAGES WITH PRO-REGIME FORCES

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Turkish military vehicles arrive in Idlib province on Feb 2, 2020. (Credit: المركز الإعلامي العام MMC via Telegram).

Convoys of Turkish military vehicles crossed the border into Syria’s Idlib governate on Sunday, marking a dramatic escalation in the struggle for control of the restive province. Turkish president Erdogan had threatened a counter-offensive in Idlib last week after the Syrian regime’s latest campaign to pacify the last rebel-held province made significant progress. This is the fourth major Turkish offensive into Syria and the second into Idlib province in just 3 years. Erdogan also ordered the invasion and occupation of Kurdish-majority border areas around Afrin and Tel Abyad in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The Turkish military had previously established a ring of observation posts in Idlib, according to the terms of a de-confliction agreement with Russia in 2018. Several of the posts had been surrounded by militias loyal to the Syrian regime, providing a pretext for Erdogan to deploy a larger invasion force into Idlib. Upon their arrival, Turkish forces immediately began engaging pro-regime positions with airstrikes and shelling. Turkey has been the main patron of Syrian rebel groups since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, including radical Salafist groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda franchise.

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The entrance of the Turkish military into Idlib places Turkey in direct confrontation with Iran and Russia, whose air and ground forces are supporting the Syrian regime. The proximity of Turkish, Iranian and Russian forces to each other on opposing sides presents a significant risk of escalation, not only for the war in Syria, but for the entire region. Almost 400,000 civilians have already fled from the fighting along the Syrian axis of advance, with another half-million people at risk, mostly women and children.

We ask our global partners to join us in prayer in the coming days for a swift end to the conflict in Idlib with minimal casualties, and for the latest round of war and upheaval to open up new paths for laborers of the harvest to bring Good News to the harassed and helpless people of Syria, who are caught in the cross-fire between four brutal regimes.

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TURKEY MOBILIZES AS ERDOGAN THREATENS IDLIB COUNTER-OFFENSIVE

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Turkish military vehicles deploying to the Syrian border (via Ahval.com)

Turkish army trucks carrying personnel and military hardware were mobilized near the border of Turkey and Syria on Saturday, only two days after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened another incursion into Syria to counter a Syrian and Russian offensive against rebel forces in Idlib province. In conjunction with massive Russian bombing campaigns, the Syrian army and its Iranian-backed militia partners have made significant progress toward the provincial capital of Idlib in the last week, after breaking a stalemate with rebel forces that had lasted more than a year. Idlib is one of the seedbeds of the Syrian revolution and the last remaining province under rebel control. Under a de-confliction deal with Russia in 2018, Turkey is allowed to keep observation posts inside Idlib, where it maintains a military presence in support of rebel groups there. The largest rebel faction in Idlib is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an jihadist offshoot of al-Qaeda, which controls more than half of the provincial territory. The remnants of ISIS leadership had also found sanctuary in Idlib as late as last year, where ISIS leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was cornered by US forces in the shadow of the Turkish border in October, 2019.

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FAI had the unique and powerful opportunity to bring hope and Good News to the victims of the Syrian Civil War.

In a televised address, Erdogan accursed the Syrian regime of cruelty against its own people, and accused the Russians of violating the 2018 agreement. Already, Turkish-backed rebel forces have begun a counter-offensive. An online video published today showed the recapture of a joint Syrian-Russian base in Idlib, and other rebel forces managed to recapture several towns near the former rebel stronghold of Aleppo.

The entrance of the Turkish army into the conflict with Syrian and Russian forces would be a significant escalation, potentially drawing two regional powers into a hot war with one another. Already, almost 400,000 Idlib residents have fled their homes to travel north and eastward toward the Turkish border and Kurdish territory.

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SYRIAN AND RUSSIAN FORCES PUSH TO END SYRIAN REVOLUTION

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Syrian residents of Idlib province flee in advance of the oncoming offensive led by the Syrian Army, the Russian Air Force and their Iranian-linked allies (Via Aleppo Media Centre, Twitter).

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) began a major offensive to retake the last remaining rebel-held province in Syria this week. Idlib province in Syria’s northwest has effectively been controlled by Syrian rebel forces for the past seven years, and after the surrender of rebel groups in southwestern Qunitera province in 2018, it has remained as the last bastion of the Syrian revolution. A conglomerate of rebel factions occupy the province, ranging from moderate nationalists to al-Qaeda and ISIS-linked jihadists.

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FAI had the unique and powerful opportunity to bring hope and Good News to the victims of the Syrian Civil War.

Thousands of Syrian army regulars, along with Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian militias and other foreign militia groups sponsored by Iran, have begun a major campaign to take the restive province back from the remaining rebel forces with support from the Russian air force. The Russians have conducted more than 200 bombing sorties in recent days, including the reported use of cluster munitions, which are illegal under international law. The Syrian army has also stepped up its use of its notorious “barrel bombs”, explosives-packed oil drums, which are most often dropped from regime helicopters. The crude munitions are infamous for their indiscriminate and devastating effect on Syrian civilians. At least 10 civilians have died in air raids so far this week.

So far, the regime has made considerable progress towards the provincial capital of Idlib, capturing the vital town of Maarat al-Numan and pressing into its surrounding villages on the way to Idlib city, barely 40 kilometers away. Thousands of civilians have fled northward towards the Turkish border or eastward towards Syrian Kurdistan. Many have entered the provinces controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF, where they are warmly welcomed.

US officials estimate that as many as 700,000 more Syrian civilians could be displaced before the Idlib campaign is over. Over 13 million Syrians have already been displaced in the 8 year civil war, almost of half of which reside in camps in the nations surrounding Syria. The conflict has claimed the lives of an estimated half-million Syrians.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-army-takes-key-town-in-last-major-rebel-bastion-of-idlib/2020/01/29/dcb58438-41ec-11ea-99c7-1dfd4241a2fe_story.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/10-killed-air-attack-syria-idlib-200130114220892.html

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-syrian-army-captures-several-areas-in-eastern-idlib/

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/palestinian-led-liwaa-al-quds-in-action-against-jihadists-in-aleppo-video/

https://twitter.com/vvanwilgenburg/status/1222887082017935361

https://twitter.com/thiqanewsagency/status/1222907886269059073

https://twitter.com/mohmad_rasheed/status/1222804876100587526

https://twitter.com/mohmad_rasheed/status/1222811824464130049

https://twitter.com/thiqanewsagency/status/1222817419191779333

https://twitter.com/thiqanewsagency/status/1222817419191779333

https://twitter.com/AleppoAMC/status/1222820248648372224

https://twitter.com/Step_Agency/status/1222825365330153472

https://twitter.com/Step_Agency/status/1222835559405629442

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsArabia_B/status/1222875271700926467

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsArabia_B/status/1222875667752198145

https://twitter.com/thiqanewsagency/status/1222907886269059073

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IRANIAN BACKED MILITIA IN SYRIA THREATENS ISRAELI GOLAN HEIGHTS

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A screenshot of the Liwa Fatemiyoun video showing their view of the Israeli Golan Heights from inside Syria (via: @Jtruzmah. Twitter)

Liwa Fatemiyoun, an Afghani Shi’a milita fighting in Syria and sponsored by Iran, published a video on Twitter yesterday which shows the group positioned just a few kilometers from the Israeli Golan Border inside southwest Syria. The video, as translated by reporter Joe Truzman on Twitter, boasts that the group’s combat experience in the Syrian Civil War was just “preparations for confronting Zionism” and that the Israeli Golan Heights are the groups “Final Target.”

Liwa Fatemiyoun’s threats echo those of their benefactor, Iran, whose military and religious leadership have repeatedly threatened to destroy the Jewish State. The head of Iran’s army even claimed that Tehran has a strategy to cause the collapse of Israel within the next quarter-century.

Sources:

https://twitter.com/Jtruzmah/status/1209378917041049600

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Irans-Afghan-mercenaries-threaten-Israel-from-Golan-611967?fbclid=IwAR19jSPJk-bbIhk4YTIzDI-Ah2QNHNLnoqapcXUoMy3Xy4iNxEBQbJSqhtY

https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-iranian-general-threatens-to-destroy-israel-us/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-iran-threatens-to-annihilate-israel-hezbollah-boast-of-reach-of-rockets/

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BREAKING: ISRAELI MISSILES STRIKE MULTIPLE IRANIAN, SYRIAN TARGETS INSIDE SYRIA AFTER GOLAN ATTACK

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Israeli missile fire over Damascus, Syria, 2019 (via BBC).

Israeli jets and surface-to-air batteries struck multiple targets belonging to the Iranian Quds Force near Damascus, Syria on Wednesday morning, as well as Syrian missile batteries that fired in response. The round of strikes came just hours after several missles were fired at Israeli military installations in the Golan Heights. There are no official reports of damage or casualties at the time.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immeidately discolsed Israel's role in the strikes in a public statement: "I made it clear that whoever harms us - we will harm them. That is what we did tonight in Syria against Iranian Quds Force targets and Syrian military targets, after rockets were fired from its territory towards Israel. We will continue to aggressively guard the security of Israel."


The volley of strikes comes a week after Israel targeted a top Palestinian Islamic Jihad political leader near Damascus in an airstrike last week, which is considered to be the impetus for the rocket attack in the Golan on Tuesday evening. The Iranian Quds Force is a leading patron of the PIJ, providing millions of dollars worth of weapons, training and materiel to the terrorist group in their ongoing war against Isarel from inside the Gaza Strip.

Photo: Israeli missile fire over Damascus, Syria, 2019 (via BBC).

Sources:

https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1196965953076154368/…/1

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1196973332689833985

https://twitter.com/Syria_Protec…/status/1196935906072170497

https://twitter.com/LTCJonathan/status/1196968651724935168

https://twitter.com/Jtruzmah/status/1196936774297079809

http://live.jpost.com/…/Syrian-air-defenses-intercept-missi…

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BREAKING: MISSILE FIRED TOWARD MILITARY INSTALLATION IN GOLAN HEIGHTS

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Photo: Deployment of the Iron Dome system (Credit: Raython).

Rocket fire from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights this evening was intercepted by Iron Dome. The presumed target was an IDF installation in the Israeli Golan and not civilian communities. Based on statements from Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Syria, the attack may have been a limited response to an Israeli air strike against the home of one of their political leaders near Damascus last week.

It is yet to be seen whether the IDF will respond to the rocket fire. Both sides in the conflict have sought to deescalate after a brief conflict on the Gaza front last week that saw the launch of 450 rockets into Southern Israel and multiple IAF airstrikes in Gaza that killed two dozen PIJ leaders and fighters.

Sources:

https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1196862870023286784

https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1196860831457333255