Erdgan fails to infiltrate Ain Issa

Mohamed Abdelghaffar

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thought that northern Syria would be an easy prey to invade to achieve the interests of his AK Party, claiming difficult political and military situation in Syria in recent years.

Erdogan’s miscalculation, as always, forced him to face great difficulties regarding military and geographical control of northern Syria, despite the launch of three operations, namely spring of peace, the Euphrates shield, and olive branch, and his attempt to demographically control the region through the establishment of branches of Turkish universities Like Gaziantep.

The city of Ain Issa, located in northern Syria, is one of the obvious obstacles in the march of the Turkish army in northern Syria; where these forces did not succeed in moving forward, due to the great resistance they faced.

Turkish forces and their loyalist terrorist militias continued to attack the city, launching attacks from several axes on the town of Ain Issa, and faced fierce resistance from the SDF and Syrian Army forces present in the city.

According to Syrian sources in an interview with Reuters, Saturday, November 23, 2019, clashes between the two sides led to casualties, with a slight decline of troops in the region with the start of the Turkish offensive.

The administration of northern and eastern Syria announced in an official statement on Saturday, November 23, 2019, that Turkey has targeted the town of Ain Issa publicly and through various types of weapons and artillery. The attack came barbaric and aggressive, which exacerbated the humanitarian crisis and the displacement of thousands of residents of the region.

The administration added that the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state of Daesh and Al-Nusra members violated the ceasefire agreement, which was signed in Sochi between Russia and Turkey, and pointed out that Turkey is seeking to occupy more areas in northern Syria, and the practice of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds.

The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that the fighting has been going on near the strategic town of Ain Issa for some time, as the SDF is trying to prevent the advancement of the Turkish army and its militias, which are bombing the city with drones and artillery shelling.

Moreover, Turkish armed forces on Tuesday killed at least six Syrian regime fighters in heavy clashes near the Syrian border town of Ras al Ayn, Agence France-Presse reported.

The deaths coincide with reports of artillery and machine-gun fire in the south of Ras al Ayn, AFP said citing Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The heavy fighting was a first between the Syrian and Turkish armies, it said.

“Turkish artillery fire killed five regime forces,” AFP quoted Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the SOHR, as saying.

Turkish-backed Syrian militia executed one captured Syrian soldier, Rahman told AFP.

Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu has declared that Ankara is ready to launch another military operation in Syria, if the US and Russia don’t fulfill the agreements to clear Kurdish YPG from the buffer zone.

“Have the US and Russia fulfilled whatever was necessary under the agreements? No, they haven’t until now, but they should. If we don’t achieve any result, as we had started the operation before, we will do whatever is necessary in northern Syria,” Cavusoglu added.