SOHR activists have reported ongoing attack by ISIS members on regime positions in Al-Rasafah desert in Al-Raqqah countryside, near Aleppo-Hama Al-Raqqah triangle. Fierce clashes are underway between both sides, amid intensive airstrikes by Russian jets since morning in an attempt to repel ISIS attack. Meanwhile, regime forces have sent military reinforcement to the battle fronts.
Syrian Observatory activists have monitored Turkish jets “F16” flying over the border strip between Idlib and Iskenderun region. Meanwhile, Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham fired several rockets on regime positions in Kafr Nubl city in southern Idlib.
Our sources in Syria, as well as a number of Russian media, claim that yesterday, on September 21, the Turkish artillery units fired on the main defense point of the Syrian army in the city of Sarakib, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
Egypt is making diplomatic moves to counter Turkey’s growing involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean region amid escalating tension.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call on Sept. 17 from the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. The two officials discussed a number of issues of common interest, including recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region and in Libya. They agreed to boost bilateral channels of consultation and stressed the need to reach a comprehensive political settlement of the Libyan issue in a bid to restore regional stability.
The decision by the US to boost its military presence in Syria following an encounter with Russian forces has raised concerns about the message the move sends to Turkey, Russia and Iran, as Washington attempts to reinforce its deterrent role in the region.
Converging news sources said today that more than 800 tanks belonging to Hossam al-Qatirji’s company, affiliated with the regime, entered the areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to transport oil to the Homs refinery.
Earlier this month, six boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants set sail from northern Lebanon and attempted to dock in Cyprus. That might not sound like much, yet it is six times more than the total number of migrant vessels that have embarked for Cyprus from Lebanon over the last year. A fast boat can cover the 185km between Tripoli and Cape Greco, a rocky outcrop in the southeast of the island, in six hours. And with Lebanon’s government in shambles, these calm, largely unpoliced waters are a smuggler’s dream.
While Turkish-Western relations have been overshadowed by clouds of differences over the past few years, Greek media recently reported that the US eyes relocating its forces from Turkey’s Incirlik airbase to another base in one of the Greek islands. Washington Examiner news website, quoting Senator of Wisconsin who chairs Senate Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Ron Johnson, reported that the UN navy is building a base in Crete island in the Souda Bay south of the country.
Reliable sources have informed SOHR that Turkish forces and their proxy factions withdrew part of their heavy weapons from the frontlines with SDF in rural Tel Abyad and Ain Issa, north of Raqqa.
At stake are agreements on oil concessions and control of the ports that are still pending.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anger at the intention of the President of the Presidency Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, to step down from his post at the end of next October indicates that Sarraj did not complete everything that was asked of him by the Turks in exchange for their intervention to repel the Libyan National Army’s attack on the Libyan capital, Tripoli.