Erdogan: Idlib Operation Nearly Complete

Turkey’s president said on Tuesday that his country’s cross-border operation in Syria’s Idlib province was largely completed, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.

Turkey launched a cross-border campaign in Idlib earlier this month with the aim of enforcing a so-called de-escalation zone agreement in the area. In recent weeks, Turkish troops have deployed across the border, where they have set up observation posts overlooking opposition-held areas in northwest Syria as well as the Kurdish-held region of Afrin.

Speaking in parliament to members of his ruling A.K. Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that although the operation in Idlib was almost complete, nearby Afrin remained an issue.

“We can come suddenly at night. We can suddenly hit at night,” he said, hinting at a possible incursion into the Kurdish stronghold.

His comments indicate that Turkey’s deployment in Syria is partly aimed at containing the YPG and other Kurdish groups.

Russia Blocks Extension of Mission Investigating Chemical Weapon Attacks in Syria

Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have extended an investigation to uncover the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, Agence France-Presse reported.

This is the ninth time that Moscow has used its power of veto in the security council to block resolutions targeting President Bashar al-Assad.

The investigation by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) – known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) – was set up by Russia and the U.S. in 2015 to identify the source of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Its mandate was extended last year and is due to expire in November.

Moscow’s decision to block the extension of the panel’s mandate comes only two days before investigators release a report on the chemical weapons attack that targeted the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib last April.

Washington and its allies in the international community have accused the Syrian government of carrying out the attack.

“Russia has once again demonstrated it will do whatever it takes to ensure the barbaric Assad regime never faces consequences for its continued use of chemicals as weapons,” U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley said in response to the veto.

Government Advances in Deir Ezzor

Syrian government forces are advancing toward the last major stronghold of the so-called Islamic State near the border with Iraq, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

Citing Syria’s state news agency, the AP said that government forces captured a number of positions in the town of Mehkan south of al-Mayadeen on Tuesday.

Government forces are now pushing south from al-Mayadeen toward the town of Boukamal, the AP reported.

The capture of Boukamal would mark a severe blow to the militant group, which has lost most of its territory in Syria.

Recommended Reads

• The Associated Press: Potential Showdown in Eastern Syria Over I.S.-Held Territory
• Agence France-Presse: In Syria Region Under Regime Siege, Children Die of Hunger
• Al Jazeera: Eastern Ghouta Siege: The Worst It Has Ever Been
• Reuters: New School Offers Education ‘Salvation’ for Syrian Girls in Lebanon
• Agence France-Presse: In Ravaged Raqa, Clues to I.S.’s Bygone Media Empire