On January 26, a Turkish Army convoy entered the opposition-held areas in the eastern Idlib countryside, according to the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet SMART. The media outlet said that the convoy consisted of six armored vehicles.
Several Syrian opposition activists claimed that the Turkish Army convoy preformed a reconnaissance mission around the town of Abu Duhur held by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). Some activists even claimed that the Turkish Army is establishing an observation position near Abu Duhur in order to stop the SAA advance there.
However, the Turkish side has not confirmed any of these claims yet. Moreover, observers doubt that Turkey could take such an aggressive move against the Russian-backed SAA while it’s already attacking Afrin area.
A similar convoy of the Turkish Army entered the western Aleppo countryside on January 24. Back then, several Syrian opposition sources also claimed that the Turkish Army wanted to establish new observation positions north of Abu Duhur. However, the Turkish Army was only reinforcing its old positions west of the Afrin area.
In the last few days, may Syrian pro-government activists said that the SAA, Hezbollah, Iranian-backed forces and the Tiger Forces are preparing to launch a major military operation to break the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) siege on the towns of al-Fu’ah and Kafriya in the eastern Idlib countryside.
These reports led to frustration among the HTS supporters in Idlib, who warned that the SAA could attack the city of Idlib itself. It’s located only 2km west of al-Fu’ah.