The Turkish military redeployed a commando brigade from the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli to the northern Syrian governorate of Idlib in order to reinforce its observation posts there, the Turkish Haberler news outlet reported on September 22.
? Turkish army sent commando forces to #Syria‘s #Idlib#Turkey
? pic.twitter.com/kKnoesKA8y— Mete Sohtaoğlu (@metesohtaoglu) September 21, 2018
According to the Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi, the deployment of the Turkish commandos is a part of the Russian-Turkish deconfliction agreement on Idlib. Under the agreement, both countries will establish a demilitarized zone around the Syrian governorate, which requires deploying additional forces.
The Turkish military deployed dozens of battle tanks, artillery pieces and troops on the border with Syria during the last few weeks. These forces may also enter Idlib soon under the Russian-Turkish agreement.
The agreement forces Syrian militants to withdraw their heavy weapons from the demilitarized zone before October 10 and radical groups will have to withdraw their forces from there by October 15. Later, Russian and Turkish units will began carrying out patrols in the zone to ensure the implementation of the deconfliction agreement.
