The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) have sent a security convoy to the town of Lataminah in the northern part of Hama province, according to a video released by pro-militant media activists.
#Syria: following (pro-)Regime attack on #Zilaqiat front last night, Turkish Army delegation entered tonight nearby town of #Lataminah (N. #Hama). pic.twitter.com/vxfwOwH1XX
— Qalaat Al Mudiq (@QalaatAlMudiq) 9 November 2018
The TAF convoy arrived the area amid the recent series of escalation between radical miltiant groups (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies) and the Syrian Arab Army in northern Hama and northern Lattakia.
On November 10, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham carried out an attack on a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the Turkman mount in the northern Lattakia. The group claimed that 10 SAA troops had been killed in the attack. Earlier on the same day, the group claimed that 18 SAA soldiers and 7 Russian service members had been killed in village of al-Tarbi’a in the northern Hama.
While the numbers provided by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remain unconfirmed (especially alleged deaths of Russian troops), sporadic clashes in the both regions have been ongoing since November 8.
These clashes openly show that the Idlib demiltiarization zone agreement does not work as it has been supposed. Most of miltant groups have ignored the terms and conditions of this agreement keeping their heavy weapons and equipment within the “demilitarized zone” area.
Turkey and Turkey-linked sources have repeatedly claimed that the agreement is employed, but this is not confirmed by the situation on the ground. Furthermore, the Turkish-Russian decision to expand the timeline of the agreement implementation also confirms this fact.
Thus, the Idlib de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria is slowly heading to a new round of escalation.
