Reporting by Ammar Bakkour
(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Turkish military incursion 500 meters into the area of Aqrabat in Idlib’s northern countryside on Wednesday evening enraged the area residents and many activists who expressed their anger on social media.
A military source revealed to Zaman al-Wasl that the incursion was undertaken to establish a new corridor for the Free Syrian Army fighters going from Idlib to Aleppo’s northern countryside and vice versa. The incursion is part of the Euphrates Shield operation supported by the Turkish government in the fight against Islamic State in Aleppo’s north eastern countryside.
The source added, “the aim of the planned new passage is to keep the Free Syrian Army fighters away from Atmeh crossing where many camps are dispersed in that area, and so they avoid civilian casualties and monitor explosions.”
Over 35 people were killed, most of them fighters in the Syrian resistance among them the High Judiciary Council President in Aleppo Khaled al-Sayed and the Deputy General Mohamad Faraj in an explosion executed by Islamic State in October.
The commander, who preferred to not disclose his name, clarified that, “the Turkish army did not inform the Free Syrian Army factions before it entered Syrian territory,” and regarding the factions’ inquiries about the incursion he added, “we knew the Turkish army entered also as a premonition to the continued building of the cement wall which the Turkish state has spoken a lot about in the media, and it has built a large part of it along the border strip in northern and western Aleppo.”
The Turkish army entered Syria to the border village of Aqrabat which is controlled by the Free Syrian Army. The Turkish army entered with military vehicles, workmen, and bulldozers to begin work to open the passage and flatten the agricultural land after cutting down several olive trees belonging to villagers in Aqrabat.
Following the residents’ objection about the trees being cut, the bulldozers stopped working. Abu Abdullah, one of the villagers of Aqrabat said to Zaman al-Wasl, “an officer from the Turkish army told us that the works to open the road, uproot the olive trees, and flatten the land to build part of the cement wall on Syria territory will begin again with or without your consent.”
Aqrabat is situated next to Atmeh area in the far north east of Idlib province. It is east of Bab al-Hawa, an official border crossing with Turkey and west of Afrin which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units. It was one of the areas that Syrians were using to enter Turkey illegally. Villagers explained that border crossers were shoot at by the Turkish border guards while they hide in the olive groves along the border.
With Turkey continuing to build the cement wall on the side of Idlib province, Syrians in Idlib who are being bombed on a daily basis are faced with two options remaining in their homes or moving to one of the border villages.
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