Turkey’s Syrian ambitions are pushing for remnants of transatlantic unity. According to sources in the delegation of one of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, the Western military bloc will not support Ankara even after the Turkish military died under the shelling of Syrian artillery.
“NATO states are not considering the possibility of applying the fifth article [of the NATO charter on collective security] in connection with the death of Turkish soldiers in Idlib,” the TASS news agency quoted the diplomat as saying.
He emphasized that Turkey will not receive support from the bloc in its military campaign on Syrian territory, since what is happening goes beyond the terms of the fifth article. According to the official, NATO prefers to provide “political support”, distancing itself from the Middle East confrontation.
“Among the European countries-members of NATO, not everyone is positive about Turkey’s ambitions in the Syrian direction. And this, except for what is happening in other neighboring states, ”the source added, implying Libya.
At the same time, a source in military circles admitted that NATO was no longer concerned about the prospects of the Turkish army in its confrontation with the troops of Bashar al-Assad, but the threat that Turkey would engage in a full-scale conflict with Syria’s allies – Russia and Iran. Against this background, as the source notes, NATO is very hopeful that the situation will be settled peacefully and the alliance will not have to deal with the Russian army.
As News Front previously reported, recently, Syrian government forces launched a large-scale offensive in the Idlib de-escalation zone in order to put an end to the revelry of jihajists. Such actions have caused Turkey’s discontent. Ankara was against the offensive in Idlib, although Damascus was forced to act precisely because the Turkish side was not able to fulfill the conditions of the Sochi memorandum on the demilitarized zone.
The situation was aggravated after the death of several Turkish soldiers who came under artillery fire from the Syrian Arab army. In response, Ankara began to take retaliatory actions that threaten the settlement process. In particular, the Turkish army attacked the objects of the Syrian troops and began to transfer additional forces to Idlib.