Turkish soldiers patrol a road near Hacipasa, Hatay, Turkey near the border with Syria, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014.
(REPORT) — Back in August, Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria focused a lot on seizing ISIS territory along the border. At this point, all the easily claimable ISIS cities are gone, and Turkey’s forces are increasingly bumping up against the forces of the Syrian government.
The Kremlin has confirmed that Turkish President Erdogan is travelling to Moscow on 9th and 10th March 2017 for a summit meeting with Russian President Putin and with other top officials of the Russian government.
Reports that ISIS have been defeated in al-Bab may superficially being joy to many readers. But the reality is far from good.
Turkish news agencies are reporting that ISIS fighters have surrendered the strategically important town of Al-Bab in northern Syria to the Turkish military, which is now in full control of the town.
This follows a succession of see-sawing battles for the town, during which Turkish troops have often suffered heavy losses.
A week after Turkish President Erdogan declared victory for the Turkish army in its fight with ISIS for the strategically important town of Al-Bab in northern Syria, it has been confirmed that ISIS has driven back the Turkish troops besieged the city, inflicting on them heavy losses.
Days after confirmation was received that the ISIS fighters in Al-Bab have been surrounded by the Syrian army from the south and the Turkish army and its Jihadi allies (the so-called “Free Syrian army”) from the north, news reports confirm that pressure on the ISIS fighters in the town is growing.
On the 21st of September 2016, ISIS encircled a Turkish military contingent in Al Bab, killing 16 Turkish soldiers. Two of them were burnt alive in a ISIS propaganda video.
Turkish President Erdogan vowed revenge for the attack and consequently Turkish troops have been engaged with ISIS in the Al Bab region of Aleppo Governorate ever since.
Some Turkish forces who remain in Syria were recently accidentally fired upon by the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. Three Turkish soldiers were killed and eleven are reported wounded.
The Russians are going into overdrive to contain the diplomatic damage from the Russian air strike that killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded eleven others near Al-Bab in Syria on Thursday.
Russian President Putin immediately telephoned Turkish President Erdogan to offer his condolences, and the Russian and Turkish Chiefs of General Staff have also spoken to each other. Here is the Kremlin’s summary of President Putin’s conversation with President Erdogan
21st Century Wire says…
The Syrian Army made important gains against ISIS fighters in the eastern countryside of Aleppo city last weekend with terrorist forces taking massive losses in fighting in Aran. Aran had been one of the last terrorist strongholds that was preventing the Syrian Army from reaching Al-Bab. The Syrian Army and National Defense Force also gained a nearby hill in ‘Awaysha and set up a fire control over the ISIS supply rout into Al-Bab.
Reports are circulating – some of which are traceable to Jihadi sources – that fast advancing Syrian army forces have completed the encirclement of 5,000 ISIS fighters who are trapped in the strategic north Syrian town of Al-Bab.
If true then this begs the major question of whether the Syrian troops who have been advancing on Al-Bab from the south are coordinating with the Turkish troops who together with Turkey’s Jihadi allies have been trying to take Al-Bab from the north.
