Egypt Reportedly Sends Troops to Syria to Support Assad Forces

TEHRAN (defapress) - Egypt has sent nearly 150 soldiers to Syria to support the country’s military forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad government, according Turkish media reports.

News ID: 81676

Date: 31 July 2020 - 19:35

The report claims that the soldiers had been sent to the Aleppo countryside, Idlib area via the Hama Military Airport, Anadolu Agency said, citing reliable military sources.

It added that the troops were later deployed in the Khan al-Asal area in the western countryside of Aleppo and around the city of Saraqib in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Egyptian soldiers are said to have been deployed with light weapons on the front lines against the so-called moderate Syrian opposition factions.

Idlib is home to several anti-government militant outfits receiving Turkish support. Late last year, Syria launched an anti-terror operation against the foreign-sponsored militants after they failed to honor a de-escalation agreement between Ankara and Moscow.

Idlib tensions mounted late in February after an airstrike by Syrian forces killed dozens of Turkish soldiers, whom Russia said were “in the battle formations of terrorist groups.”

Shortly afterward, Ankara waged its fourth incursion into Syria, dubbed Spring Shield, which escalated Idlib tensions.

Turkey has been manning a number of observation posts in Idlib since 2018, when it struck an agreement with Russia.

On March 5, Russia and Turkey, which support opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, came to an agreement on a ceasefire regime in Idlib, where Turkish aggression against the Syrian government had risked starting a war.

According to the agreement, joint Russian-Turkish patrols would secure a six-kilometer-wide corridor along the M4 highway connecting the two government-held provinces of Latakia and Aleppo.

The ceasefire also consolidates Syrian control over the M5 highway which links the capital Damascus to the major cities of Hama, Homs, and Aleppo.

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