An expression of jihadi displeasure with Erdogan
BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:00 P.M.) – A Turkish military convoy that was traveling through the Idlib countryside on Wednesday was reportedly ambushed by unknown assailants, Muraselon news reported, citing opposition media. The Muraselon report said the Turkish Army convoy was traveling through the town of Mahambal when they were ambushed by the unknown assailants.
“According to information monitored by Muraselon, a Turkish Army convoy was subjected to a number of explosive devices during a crossing along the Latakia-Aleppo road (M-4), which is under the control of the militants; this led to the loss of a number of Turkish forces,” Muraselon said.
The report said clashes broke out shortly after the attack, later resulting in the Turkish Army cordoning off the area. Some opposition activists have accused the jihadists of the Hurras Al-Deen Group, but they have denied any role in the ambush. (Al Masdar News)
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’Tis a puzzlement. Will the Turkish Army continue their shoulder to shoulder support of their jihadi brothers when the SAA and Russian Aerospace Forces inevitably start clearing the M4 or will the Turks abandon the jihadis to their fate?
Erdogan appeared to be content with the latest plan to cede the control of the M4 highway, Jisr al Shighour and Arihah to Damascus. The jihadis were not content with any of this. They stopped the joint Turkish-Russian patrols of the M4 and bulldozed a section of the highway in a fit of displeasure.
These actions and this incident at Muhambal shows that some jihadis are not pleased with Erdogan’s level of enthusiasm for their cause. And they are showing their displeasure at his lack of enthusiasm. It will be truly interesting to see how this aspect develops when the next phase of Operation Idlib Dawn kicks off.
TTG
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-military-convoy-ambushed-in-idlib-countryside-report/
Two TA Corporals dead. Not what they expected from their ‘friends’.
The Turks and the Russians have convergent interests in the long term, the Turks and the jihadists do not. Prolonging the Syrian civil war makes Bibi happy, but it doesn’t help Erdogan in any way. The sooner the Syrian civil war ends the sooner all those Syrian refugees in Turkey can return home. Russia will sell Erdogan S-400 complexes – but the US will only sell Patriot batteries when they feel like it, and won’t sell F-35s unless Turkey promises to be a compliant vassal … which doesn’t fit with how the Turks view themselves.
Erdogan has every reason to have a covert alliance with Russia. An overt alliance would just invite (more) sanctions.
All,
Erdogan has withdrawn his Army from Sarmin, between Idlib and Saraqib, and Binnish, between Idlib and Taftanaz, after the ambush. No word yet o whether the Turks are still in the airbase south of Taftanaz. Perhaps they’re consolidating just like we are in Iraq. We can only hope they are truly pulling up stakes.
Any loss of Turkish military personnel in Syria is grist for the growing opposition to the Syria intervention, adding to the increasing “Erdo fatigue.” Having ethnically cleansed traditionally Kurdish territory along the border, the rationale for playing footsies with Syria jihadis is harder to sell, especially given Turkey’s increasing economic woes.
Should Turkey abandon these jihadis now, there will be nowhere for them to go except for Turkey and they will be even less welcome than the refugees. They have NO Europe option. If he does leave them to their fate, Erdo will face the wrath from two distinct corners, the ultra-nationalists who warned that Turkey could easily lose Hatay. For the various strains of Turkish Islamism, it will be seen as a betrayal by a supposedly pious ruler.
Jane,
re Any loss of Turkish military personnel in Syria is grist for the growing opposition to the Syria intervention, adding to the increasing “Erdo fatigue.”
As far as I go my fatigue with Erdo didn’t start with his Syria adventure.
The absurd hysteria over the so called coup and protests, Erdo friends accusing the Lufthansa being part of that plot, his mass arrests and mass firing, his agressive behaviour against Greece, the still greekish rest of Syria, his blackmailing of the EU and Greece with refugee floods, arresting Gülenists on the overwhelming evidence that they own a dollar bill or keeping a writer arrested for one and a half year until the prosecutor eventually send him and his attorney an ill written and absurd accusation (of which he was acquitted only to be rearrested a day later) … etc pp … do it already for me.
Turkish troops are in Syria very much ‘uninvited’, that means they are an agreessive invasion force, Kurds or Schmurds – and Erdo is accusing Russia and Syria of daring to shoot back, and demands NATO support in his neo-osmanian or simply egomaniac adventures.
Jane,
correction to “the still greekish rest of Syria“:
I meant “the still greekish rest of Cyprus”