Syria in Last 24 Hours:

Turkish Army Deploys More Troops at Border with Syria

Rasa - The Turkish Army deployed more troops and military hardware to the border with Northern Syria on Saturday as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara forces would soon conduct an assault against the Kurdish militias.

News ID: 441253

Date: 29 October 2018 - 09:43

RNA - The Turkish army dispatched a long convoy of large heavy trucks carrying cannons and equipment along with a large number of soldiers to Kilis province at the border with Syria.

Erdogan has recently said that the army will kick off a large-scale operation on the Eastern banks of the Euphrates River to purge the region of the Kurdish militias similar to the operation in Afrin.

Aleppo

The Turkish army and Ankara-backed militants banned Syrian identify cards in the town of Azaz in Northern Aleppo in a move widely seen as a prelude to the annexation of Northern Syria occupied territories to Turkey.

A local council, affiliated to the Turkish army, announced via a circular that people have to use newly-issued Turkish ID cards.

In the meantime, local sources reported that the council issued the circular at the order of Turkey's intelligence service, adding that the Ankara forces had already warned that residents in Northern Syria will be punished if they use their Syrian identity cards.

Ankara has been attempting to annex a part of Northern Syria to its soil in the last 7 years via different measures that also includes bans on Syrian IDs.

Meanwhile, two main Ankara-backed militant groups engaged in a fresh round of clashes in occupied Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo that inflicted several casualties on both warring sides.

Local sources said that Ahrar al-Sharqiyah and Sultan Murad terrorists, both backed by the Turkish troops, clashed fiercely in the village of Ein al-Hajar near the town of Afrin on Friday, adding that the clashes started over the groups' differences over their share of the people's assets and agricultural products looted by the militants.

They further said that at least 15 terrorists have been injured in the infighting.

Both groups further kept fighters on alert and arrested each others' members.

In the meantime, the Kurdish language Hawar news reported that Turkey set up a free trade zone for transferring Afrin's looted alive products to Turkey after Ankara forces created a passageway between Afrin and Turkish territories via the Syrian border village of Humam.

Local sources said on Saturday that a senior foreign commander of Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) was killed in a grenade attack on a road in Western Aleppo.

The sources said that Abu al-Bara'a, a Qatari field commander of Tahrir al-Sham, was killed along with two of his aides after unidentified assailants staged a grenade attack on his vehicle in al-Mohandeseen farms area in Western Aleppo.

In the meantime, a number of people were killed or wounded after a bomb went off in the town of al-Dana near the border with Turkey.

Idlib

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday that terrorist groups were operating in the demilitarized zone in Northern and Northwestern Syria despite Turkey's efforts to persuade the militants to leave the zone under the Sochi Agreement.

SOHR said that the terrorists have not yet left the demilitarized zone that covers a large region in Lattakia, Hama, Idlib and Aleppo provinces, adding that Ankara's attempts to persuade the militants to leave the zone have thus far failed.

Meantime, Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) and its terrorist allies deployed in Western Aleppo continued targeting al-Nile street in Aleppo city, injuring several civilians and destroying their residential units.

Other terrorists in  Northern Hama launched missile attacks on the village of al-Safsafiyah in Northwestern Hama.

Field sources said that the army's artillery units, in response to the terrorists' attacks, pounded their positions in Morek, Skeik and Atshan regions in Northeastern Hama.

Lattakia

On Saturday, the US Coalition denied leading the drone attack on the Humeimim Airbase in Southwestern Lattakia, despite Russia’s claims that they had proof of Washington’s participation.

Speaking to Sputnik News Agency, the Spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, Sean Ryan, said that the US had no role in the drone strikes on the Humeimim Airbase.

“Any suggestion that the US or coalition forces played a role in an attack on a Russian base is without any basis in fact and is utterly irresponsible,” Ryan told Sputnik.

The Russian military accused the US Coalition on Thursday of leading the assault on the Humeimim Airbase with their reconnaissance planes.

Prior to these allegations, the Syrian military claimed that the US Coalition was spying on their newly acquired S-300 systems using their reconnaissance drones.

Deir Ezzur

A field source reported on Saturday that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dispatched a military convoy from their base in Raqqa in Northeastern Syria to the Eastern Province of Deir Ezzur.

According to Fars News Agancy, the source reported that the SDF forwarded a long convoy of militants and equipment from its base in the town of Ein Issa in Raqqa province to Deir Ezzur.

The source further said that the SDF's convoy moved under the US flag and included 20 military vehicles carrying arms and military hardware and also almost 100 SDF gunmen, heading towards SDF-held regions in Deir Ezzur.

In the meantime, the source said that 4 SDF gunmen were killed in unknown attackers' raid on their position in the small town of Granij in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

Meanwhile, the source said that a number of SDF members were killed and wounded after a bomb-laden vehicle went off in the village of Abu Hardoub in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

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