Policy of Self-Destruction: Turkey Supplies Syrian Fighters with Military Equipment

15 February 2020 — American Herald Tribune

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Amid a surge in military operations in Idlib governorate, Turkey has been gradually escalating military provocations, creating obstacles to the advance of the Syrian Arab Army. Currently, Ankara decided to not even try to hide the fact that it funds and supplies terrorist organizations and controlled armed groups.

Shortly after the launch of the government troops’ offensive in the last opposition bastion of Idlib, Turkey began deploying numerous convoys with weapons and armored vehicles to allied Syrian fighters. There are a large number of photos and videos that show Turkish-made military equipment destroyed during the clashes between jihadist groups and Syrian armed forces.

On February 14, militants of “Hayat Tahrir Al Sham” (HTS) alongside the “National Liberation Front” made a failed attempt to advance on the axis of western Aleppo. As a result, several elements of the HTS were neutralized and at least 3 Turkish armored combat vehicles “ACV-15” were destroyed.

At present, the situation in the province of Idlib shows that a huge volume of Turkish weapons delivered to loyal jihadist groups has not lead to their victory. Moreover, Syrian militants failed to take advantage of most of what they obtain from Turkey because of the Syrian Army’s air raids.

On February 3, a lot of accounts on social media circulated images demonstrating the destruction of a convoy carrying Turkish military equipment in the west of Saraqib city. According to local sources, Turkey sent it to support HTS militants. Following an air strike carried out by Syrian forces hitting the convoy, an M60-T tank, an M-106 howitzer and several combat vehicles were destroyed.

From this point, it is possible to draw an accurate conclusion that although there is a growing involvement of Turkey in the Syrian conflict, Ankara often does not achieve its objectives – affiliated fighters do not meet expectations, the Turkish military perishes, the country’s budget is spent for nothing.

It is obvious that Erdogan turns a blind eye on the negative consequences of backing the Syrian jihadists in their fight against the Syrian legitimate government. So how many vehicles should be destroyed and how many soldiers should die before Turkish leadership stop pursuing a policy of self-destruction in Syria?

WRITER

Ahmad Al Khaled

Ahmad is a Syrian journalist focused on foreign influence on the Syrian conflict, including both government and non-government (foreign fighters, NGOs) actors. He runs the SMM Syria (Special Monitoring Mission to Syria) outlet.

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