In our recent article regarding the urgent visits of US Secretary of State Blinken to Greece-Turkey-Gulf countries-Israel-West Bank-Egypt, we had pointed out the timing of these visits with the two murderous attacks in Lebanon and Iran, which pose a very high risk of a generalized conflagration in the Middle East.
There we pointed out that one of the five (5) main objectives of the US Secretary of State's visit to Turkey was to ensure that Turkish attacks against the Kurdish SDF in Northern Syria would be curtailed, which in the end did not happen.
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Στο χείλος της οικονομικής καταστροφής η Γερμανία; Στους δρόμους αγρότες και οδηγοί φορτηγών για φοροεπιδρομή και ακρίβεια
New significant Turkish reinforcements have been pushed into Idlib, Syria
In fact, according to International Media , "Turkey has brought new reinforcements to Idlib, Syria", which states:
"The Turkish army sent new military reinforcements, including armored vehicles, tanks and artillery, to its positions in Syria's eastern Idlib on Monday.
The Turkish military convoy entered Syria through the Kafr Lossin border crossing in northern Idlib.
It later advanced to Turkish outposts in Sarmeen, Banash, Nayrab and Taftanaz in northwestern Syria.
Serious military escalation between Turks and Assad's forces in NW Syria
The new reinforcement is aimed at strengthening the Turkish presence amid the military escalation in the region.
In recent days, the Syrian regime forces and their supported militias have stepped up their attacks in north-western Syria. The forces stationed in the Idlib region have targeted several neighbourhoods in the east of the city with rockets and artillery.
Turkish media quoted civil defense sources as saying that five civilians were wounded as Syrian regime forces and Iranian-backed militias fired on the Saraqib area and Sarmeen village in eastern Idlib province.
The wounding of five civilians was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported that Syrian regime artillery forces had fired on the town of Sarmeen in eastern Idlib province.
The shells hit the popular market in the city centre near the Sarmeen Girls' High School and the ancient Grand Mosque "al-Kabir", it added.
On Sunday, Turkish forces targeted government forces' artillery positions in the town of Saraqib in eastern Idlib after the aforementioned attack.
The Observatory later reported that Turkish forces stationed in the area controlled by them and the Russians fired artillery fire at regime positions in Saraqib and Khan Al-Sabl near the strategic highway between Damascus and Aleppo "M5".
Meanwhile, the regime forces fired rockets with a large explosion on the front lines of Al-Sirmaniya village in the countryside of Hama and Al-Sheikh Sandiyan village in Idlib province.
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.
Subsequently, regime forces targeted Hayat Tahir 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 mortars, amid the hovering of intense Russian drones in Jabal al-Zawiya, Jabal Al-Akrad and Al-Pediada Ghab in rural Hama.
The Turks attacked YPG Kurds killing five (5) YPG fighters
In a separate development, Turkish security forces "neutralized" five members of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday.
YPG members were preparing to attack the Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring areas, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
Erdogan attempts to blackmail the US over F-16s by threatening to launch a new attack in Syria against the YPG
It is known that the visit of Blinken to Turkey was not accompanied by a successful development for the neighbours on the issue of the acquisition of the F-16 BLOCK-70.
The reason is that the US wants the Turkish Parliament to first vote in favour of Sweden's NATO membership on 16 January or in the immediate aftermath of the above date in order to sell Erdogan the F-16s, while Erdogan wants the above to be done in reverse order.
Following this, our assessment is that the Turkish President, with the significant new military reinforcements he has pushed forward in Idlib and the new strikes against the Kurds of the YPG, is attempting to blackmail the US for the acquisition of the F-16s, threatening to open a new war front in Northern Syria, further complicating the already bad situation in the Middle East. The situation in the Middle East, where Washington is trying to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading beyond the Gaza Strip to southern Lebanon in the first place.
