(Zaman Al Wasl)- Turkish army on Sunday has sent heavy reinforcements into northern Idlib province, two days since Ankara and Moscow has reached a ceasefire to end three months of daily bombing by the Syrian regime forces on last real stronghold.
Hundreds of Turkish troops equipped with 100 tanks, artillery, multiple-rocket launchers, fuel trucks and mobile radar jamming units crossed into Idlib on Sunday, local activists and rebel sources said.
On Friday, a cease-fire deal took hold in Syria's northwestern province.
The truce, brokered by Turkey and Russia, halted a terrifying three-month air and ground campaign that killed hundreds and sent 1 million people fleeing toward the Turkish border.
The agreement, announced Thursday after a six-hour meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents in Moscow, essentially froze the conflict lines in Idlib. It does not force Bashar Assad's forces to roll back significant military gains made in Russian-backed offensive for the past three months — a key Turkish demand prior to the talks, AP reported.
The Russian-backed Syrian regime forces have bombed out of service and destroyed at least 225 civil facilities in northwestern Syria since last November, the Syrian Response Coordination Group said Sunday.
The regime offensive in Idlib province and parts of Aleppo has displaced more than 1,041000 people from their homes and killed 700 people, including 91 women, 212 children and 17 rescue workers, over the past three months, the group said.
According to the local monitoring group, Russia and regime airstrikes have targeted 20 refugee shelters, 88 educational facilities, 9 centers for Civil Defense agency, 32 health centers, 8 ambulances, 14 furnaces and a bakery, 31 worship, and 23 various facilities such as water and power plants.
The nine-year-old war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced 13 million people from their homes, half of whom have left their shattered homeland.
Zaman Al Wasl
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