A large number of terrorists have fled to Turkey in cooperation with Turkish officials in recent months as gaps have been widening among terrorist groups and Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) command structure has collapsed. RNA - “Over 2,000 militants have fled to Turkey after being helped by Turkish border guards since the Syrian Army kicked off its military operation on May 6,” the Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper quoted local sources in Kharbeh al-Joz Northwest of Jisr al-Shoghour in Western Idlib as saying.
Meantime, the Syrian army continued its military advances in other parts of Syria over past 24 hours.
Tens of terrorists were killed and dozens more were injured during the Syrian army's operations in provinces across Syria.
Idlib
A large number of terrorists have fled to Turkey in cooperation with Turkish officials in recent months as gaps have been widening among terrorist groups and Tahrir al-Sham command structure has collapsed, the Arabic-language media outlets said.
The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper quoted local sources in Kharbeh al-Joz Northwest of Jisr al-Shoghour in Western Idlib as saying that over 2,000 militants have fled to Turkey after being helped by Turkish border guards since the Syrian Army kicked off its military operation on May 6.
The local sources also pointed to Turkey’s threats on increasing corridors from Turkey to Europe, and said that most of the Ankara-backed terrorists who have defected their terrorist groups have fled to the European countries via Greece.
Al-Watan also quoted sources close to Tahrir al-Sham as saying that a wave of internal differences and defection can be seen among Tahrir al-Sham commanders as they accuse each other of treason.
Eastern Syria
International Human Rights Commissioner in the Middle East Haitham Abu Saeed disclosed that the West has provided the pro-militant White Helmets with chemical weapons to be used against Syrian civilians.
Abu Saeed told the Arabic-language website of Russian Sputnik news agency that in a preliminary report published by the international fact-finding committee probing into the use of chemical weapons in Syria, it was mentioned that the Syrian government had no chemical weapons at its disposal and that it had handed over all its chemical reserves to the US Army and the international community.
He noted that when he and another members of the fact-finding committee went to Syria for further investigations they realized that some parts of the reserves had been returned to Syria and delivered to non-governmental organizations such as the White Helmets.
Abu Saeed noted that the White Helmets played a negative role in Syria and forged truth, news and films, and said, “We discovered this and sent it to international institutions, but they exerted pressure on us to stop our investigations.”
The White Helmets as a terrorist group have played crucial role in supporting terrorists since 2013. The group is financially supported by the UK and the US under the cover of helping the civilians in Syria.
Northeastern Syria
According to Fars News Agancy, the Pentagon is preparing to send about 150 troops to Northeastern Syria to conduct ground patrols with Turkish military forces in a so-called safe zone, media reports said.
Unnamed US military officials told The New York Times that the final approval of the plan awaits the success of the initial joint ground patrols with Turkish troops in the coming days.
The report announced that the move is part of an expanding series of military and diplomatic steps Washington has taken in recent weeks to defuse escalating tensions with Ankara over American support for militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
It may also signal another reversal after US President Donald Trump ordered a drawdown of American troops in Syria.
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