Turkey Not Determined to Urge Terrorist Groups to End Fight
Brigadier General Salim Harba said that terrorist groups are not willing to adhere to ceasefire due to some reasons.
He added that most of the terrorist groups, especially those affiliated to the ISIL and Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front), do not believe in diplomatic solutions.
“Meantime, Turkey is not resolved to force the militant groups to end attacks on government positions,” he continued.
The Syrian military expert added that ideological and organizational differences among terrorist groups is the root cause of their infighting, while “many terrorist groups believe that the will suffer heavy defeats in their future battles with the army troops and their popular allies”.
He went on to say that even setting up a coalition with Fatah al-Sham will not save militants.
The Syrian military expert underlined that unlike the claims made by the backers of the terrorist groups, these groups are not competent in both field and ideological levels to take part in the Astana peace talks.
Media sources disclosed earlier this week that terrorist groups were getting ready to launch massive attack on the Syrian Army and its allies in, at least 3, provinces with the support of the Turkish intelligence service.
The Arabic language al-Akhbar reported that based on field information, Ankara-backed terrorists were developing plans in close coordination with the Turkish intelligence service to relaunch large-scale attacks on army positions in Housing Project 1070, Jam’iyat al-Zahra and Zahiyeh al-Assad in the Western part of Aleppo city.
Terrorists of al-Tukistani, deployed in two regions of al-Has and Tal (hill) al-Dhaman that overlook Khanasser-Hama road, were also readying to attack the army’s defense lines and cut off the road from central provinces and Damascus to Aleppo.
The preparations made for anti-government assault were not limited to Aleppo and Idlib, and the Turkey-backed terrorists in areas near the towns of Souran, Ma’an and al-Tamanna in Northern Hama were also doing the same stationing new missile launchers, deploying more equipment and digging long trenches in the region to pave the ground for an imminent attack.
A high-ranking security source in the operations room of Syria’s allies disclosed earlier this month that Turkey and al-Nusra Front have increased contacts in recent days to pressure Russia through certain joint moves in Idlib to make concessions in Astana peace talks.
The source underlined that al-Nusra Front was preparing for several attacks, ordered by Turkey, to weaken the ceasefire.
Ankara also called on the terrorists to launch different attacks on several points so that Russia would be forced to make concessions in Astana negotiations.
The source added that Turkey aimed to persuade the terrorists to show hostile behavior towards the Syrian army to pressure Russia and find a place for al-Nusra Front in the peace talks.
Reports said that senior Turkish military officers were deployed in Western Aleppo and Idlib and coordinate operations with al-Nusra commanders, adding that cooperation between the ISIL and al-Nusra Front would also be witnessed in Syria in the near future.
