Turkey Sends More Forces to Syria, Expecting Confrontation

Syrian Army continues offensive despite Turkish threats

The Turkish military continues to deploy additional forces and equipment into its outposts in Idlib Province of northern Syria. This comes a week after Turkey killed scores of Syrians.

Turkey appears to be expecting a substantial military confrontation, and President Erdogan continues to threaten harsh reprisals for Syria contesting al-Qaeda’s control of a number of Idlib towns.

Turkey has repeatedly objected to Syria fighting for control of those towns, and despite their constant threats, Syria has shown no sign of being willing to abandon the area outright.

Turkey seems prepared to start a major war with Syria over the matter, though Russia is clearly a potential problem. Erdogan has repeatedly demanded Russia intervene to stop Syria, but given this is taking place inside Syria, the Russians have expressed an interest in calming things down, but not necessarily just letting Turkey dictate the state of Idlib, and which towns belong to al-Qaeda.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.