Assad regime sets sights on Syria's Turkmen Mountain

By Burak Karacaoglu, Esref Musa and Levent Tok

IDLIB, Syria

With the aim of attacking Turkmen Mountain, the Assad regime and Iranian-backed militia groups have continued to deploy forces in northern areas of Syria’s Latakia province, which falls within a network of de-escalation zones.

According to opposition sources, the regime and its allies are preparing for a major assault on Turkmen Mountain and the nearby city of Jisr Al-Shugur in Idlib.

Abu Abd Ateyra, a commander of the opposition’s Turkmen Mountain Operations Room, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday that the regime was still carrying out massive deployments with a view to capturing both Turkmen Mountain and opposition-held parts of Idlib.

“The regime is preparing for a massive operation targeting Turkmen Mountain,” he said. “It hopes to capture Idlib’s Jisr ash-Shugur before seizing all remaining areas still under opposition control.”

Noting the strategic importance of the mountainous region stretching through Idlib, Abd Ateyra went on to assert that opposition forces were ready to respond to an imminent assault by regime forces.

In 2015, the regime -- backed by Russian air power -- captured some 85 percent of Latakia’s Turkmen Mountain region, forcing some 20,000 of the area’s Turkmen and Arab inhabitants to flee northward to Turkey.

Under and earlier agreement endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, Turkmen Mountain falls within a network of de-escalation zones in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara