(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Turkish forces have set up three new observation points in northern Idlib province, topping the number to 54 amid heavy reinforcements keep pouring to the last opposition stronghold in Syria despite a ceasefire deal reached last March, local activists said Sunday.
The new outposts have been established in the villages of Frika and Bakseryah west of Jisr al-Shughour city.
In March, Turkish forces set up six observation points in al-Ghassaneyah, Bidama, al-Najiyeh, and al-Zainiya, al-Misherfah and Tel Khattab, an array of villages located in the Jisr al-Shughour region.
At least 350 trucks carrying troops and tanks entered Idlib this week amid warnings by Ankara to Damascus urging to respect the ceasefire deal reached month ago and to stop violations.
Idlib province is home to 3.5 million civilians, according to the United Nations.
Turkey said on Sunday it would minimise its troop movements in operation zones in neighbouring Syria in response to the coronavirus outbreak as the Turkish death toll and infections in the country rose, Reuters reported.
Turkey’s death toll from the COVID-19 disease has risen by 73 to 574 in the last 24 hours, with new confirmed cases jumping by 3,135 to total 27,069, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Troops deployed in Syria will now enter and exit operation areas only with the permission of the head of the army, the ministry said. “Thus, the movement of staff and troops is minimized, unless it is mandatory,” it added.
In relevant development, a senior commander in the Syrian Republican Guard died of wounds succumbed due to a Turkish drone strikes in Idlib last March, pro-regime activists said Sunday.
Colonel Ahmed Said was the commander the artillery battalion in the 105th brigade, key unit in the Syrian army's elite force.
The Republican Guard has been the army's backbone in fighting across out the country.
At least 400 army troops and officers were killed since February in northern Syria mostly killed in Turkish artillery and combat drones attacks, local activists said.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the ceasefire, the death toll of Syrian civilians has recorded the lowest figure in nine years with 175.
The nine-year-old conflict has killed more than 390,000 people and displaced 7 million
Zaman Al Wasl
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