Turkey faces tough challenge in Syria's Idlib
Syria’s Idlib province provides a dilemma for the Turkish military: How to continue to help those still in desperate need but also remove an organisation seen as a threat to peace in Syria.
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows tents housing internally displaced people in Atma camp, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib Governorate.
Turkey is expanding its troop deployment in Syria as part of a plan to de-escalate the conflict in accordance with a deal agreed with Russia and Iran.
But in the Idlib province, there's a problem. The area has been taken over by Hayat Al Tahrir As Sham, a coalition of fighting groups that includes the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.
“What we are talking about mostly is Turkey sending a peacekeeping, monitoring force,” says Ufuk Ulutas, the director of foreign policy research at the Turkish think tank SETA. “But even this discussion of sending monitors to Syria means that there has to be an agreement with the local armed factions and people.”
TRT World's Turkey Political Correspondent Andrew Hopkins reports.
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