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On February 26, the Syrian army’s Tiger Forces set a full-control over the town of Tadif which is located direclty south of al-Bab and is de-facto southern gates to this strategic Syrian town. Thus, Syrian government forces reached a demarcation line with the Turkish army and its proxies from the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA).
Meanwhile, the army and the National Defense Forces continued to advance against ISIS terrorists in the eastern countryside of the Aleppo city. Reports also appear that govrnment troops took control of the villages of Gharayn, Rasm al-Abed and Umm Miyal east of the Kuweires Military Airbase. However, this still has to be confirmed.
At the same time, FSA militants, backed up by the Turkish army, made a series of attempts to push further to central Syria throughout the areas controlled by ISIS. This show that there is no strict demarcation line agreed by Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran in northern Syria. So, all sides will continue to attempt to expand their zone of control in the area.
If government troops reach Kurdish YPG frontlines west of Manbij, Ankara will have no chances to launch its overpropagated “advance on Raqqah” via areas controlled by ISIS. So, Turkey will be pushed to “solve” the Kurdish issue if it wants to participate in the US-led Raqqah operation. This is why Turkish forces are now attempting to build a corridor to the province of Raqqah through the province of Aleppo.
