On Saturday, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) released an official statement threatening Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups that are planning to enter Idlib governorate from Turkey.
HTS claimed in the statement that the upcoming military operation of the Turkish Army and the FSA will be backed by the Russian Army.
HTS said that “Idlib will not be a picnic” for the FSA, and added that its fighters and suicide bombers are ready to face the FSA. HTS used a very aggressive language in the statement. It even threatened to turn the sons of FSA fighters to orphans, and their wives to widows.
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From its side, Fateh Hasson the leader of Homeland Liberation Movement denied that Russia will back the upcoming FSA operation against HTS in Idlib governorate in an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik. However, Hasson revealed that Russia did indeed propose to support the FSA operation in a perverse meeting.
In a related development, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that Hulusi Akar Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Army visited the Turkish Army units on the Syrian-Turkish borders, and checked Turkish Army units along with a group of officers that included Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army Lan Force Lieutenant General İhsan Uyar, the commander of the Turkish Air Force General Hasan Kucukakyuz and the Head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan.
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Meanwhile, the Turkish Army deployed dozens of additional Leopard-2 and M-60T tanks, T-155 Fırtına self-propelled howitzers and ACV-15 armored combat vehicle. The size of the Turkish Army units in the area suggests that it was not deployed there only to secure the border.
At least 50 TAF tanks and artillery vehicles being transported in a military convoy heading to Turkey’s Hatay province bordering #Syria. pic.twitter.com/NZ7Y8mR4oq
— Wyvern (@WyvernReports) 7 October 2017
