Turkey Training Police Force for Northern Syria

Turkey has reportedly trained more than 5,000 Syrian volunteers to work as police officers in northwestern Syria, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

Citing an unidentified police source, the report said that the Turkish Police Academy has trained 5,631 recruits at five different schools in the country. The personnel will reportedly be deployed to Syria to provide safety and security in regions held by the Turkish-backed opposition.

Training reportedly began last year. Some volunteers have already been dispatched to the areas of al-Bab, Azaz and Jarablus, which were captured by Turkey during its Euphrates Shield Operation last year, Anadolu reported.

Turkey is currently carrying out a cross-border campaign in Syria’s Idlib province. In recent weeks, Turkish troops have deployed across the border and established observation posts in positions overlooking the Kurdish-held region of Afrin in northwest Syria.

Turkey’s president said on Tuesday that the operation in Idlib was nearly complete but that Afrin remained an issue.

Scores Killed in Clashes Around Last ISIS Stronghold in Syria

Fierce fighting between government forces and the so-called Islamic State near the latter’s last Syrian stronghold has killed dozens of fighters this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

At least 27 pro-government fighters and some 42 militants have perished in heavy clashes around the town of Boukamal in southern Deir Ezzor province, near the border with Iraq, over the past 48 hours, the SOHR said on Wednesday.

According to the monitoring group, the Syrian government is trying to advance toward the ISIS stronghold from two axes. Syrian troops and allied forces are advancing from the west, pushing toward the T2 pumping station, some 65 miles (104km) west of the town. They are also pushing south from Mayadeen, which the government captured earlier this month, toward the village of al-Asharah, north of Boukamal.

Fierce fighting in the area has been accompanied by explosions and heavy artillery fire, according to the SOHR.

UNICEF: More Than 1,100 Children in Eastern Ghouta Suffering From Malnutrition

UNICEF has found that more than 1,100 children in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus are now believed to be suffering from acute malnutrition, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Reuters said that the latest numbers were drawn from three months of sample data starting from June. UNICEF has found that malnutrition is “deteriorating” in the besieged region, home to an estimated 400,000 people.

UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma told Reuters that if aid isn’t delivered to Eastern Ghouta soon, more children will suffer from starvation and malnutrition.

The U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) also issued an appeal on Thursday for access to the besieged opposition enclave. In a statement, WFP said that it was concerned about reports of extreme cases of hunger and malnutrition among families in the area.

It said that it last reached Eastern Ghouta in September. However, “so far this year only 70,000 people have received food assistance, out of an estimated population of nearly 400,000,” WFP said.

Recommended Reads:

• Al-Monitor: Moscow Eyes Working With Tribes as Its Next Move in Syria
• Al Jazeera: Syria’s SDF Rebels: ISIL’s Nemesis or American Proxy?
• Al-Monitor: Turkey Quietly Concerned With Russia’s Kurdish Policy
• Atlantic Council: Escalation Threatens South Damascus “De-Escalation” Deal
• Los Angeles Times: They Went to Syria to Fight Islamic State. Now Two Americans Find Themselves in Limbo