Office of Turkey’s Hatay governor denies Ankara intends to deploy army to Syria

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey –A statement from the office of the Turkish governor of Hatay has denied that Turkish troops are to be deployed to the Syrian province of Idlib as part of imposing the Russian-backed “de-escalation zones” in the war-torn country.

 

Earlier sources from the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army had told Rudaw that Turkish forces will be deployed to the Syrian border city of Idlib Saturday night  as part of the enforcement of the de-escalation zones in Syria.

 

The statement denied that Turkey’s army intended to deploy forces to Idlib. It also added that the Hatay government had not made such remarks, as was published by some media outlets.

 

Russia and Iran, the two main backers of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey that backs the Syrian opposition opposing the Syrian regime, agreed to install what they called de-escalations zones earlier this week in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana in an attempt to reduce violence in the country.

 

The six-year old Syrian civil war has resulted in the death of at least 400, 000 people, with half of the population said to have fled the country since.

 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the war relying on local sources said that fighting has decreased in Syria since the Russian-backed deal has come into effect.

 

The observatory reported some clashes, but added that it has not recorded any deaths as a result.