Over the past two days, Russia has implemented military precautions by maintaining its military presence north and northeast of Aleppo and strengthening Russian presence and movements in Raqqa and Hassakeh, northeast of the Euphrates River. Meanwhile, Turkish regime president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been blocked from carrying out his threats, made a week ago, to launch an aggression on Syrian territory to create the so-called 30-kilometre border “safe zone.”
The Russian military action, carried out in the areas targeted by the Turkish invasion, appeared to have intensified to warn the Erdogan regime how reckless its plan would be, and the Russian veto against Turkey implementing its own expansionist colonial agenda. The message had been retreated to Erdogan, limiting his arrogant and irresponsible desire to score points for himself and his Justice & Development party in his domestic electoral battle — scheduled for mid-2023 — at the expense of Syrian territory and Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Informed sources in rural Aleppo confirmed to al-Watan that Russian forces had maintained their presence at the bases of al-Wahshiya and Tel Ajar west of Tal Rifaat in Aleppo’s northern countryside. The Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries from the Syrian National Army mobilized more military reinforcements and intensified artillery shelling, in preparation for a military operation towards the strategic countryside location. The area contains some 300,000 refugees from the city of Afrin, which was usurped by the Turkish regime in March 2018.
According to the sources, the Russian forces in Tel Rifaat monitor its northern countryside to the lines of contact in Maraa, Azaz and the villages of the al-Shuhaba area of Afrin. It also monitors Syrian Arab Army units deployed on the front lines, which have been reinforced against any possible Turkish aggression.
Read Also: PKK Delegation Meets Ali Mamlouk in Damascus
In the eastern Euphrates, Russian forces converted their observation post south of Ain Issa, in the northern countryside of Raqqa, into an integrated military base — where it stands opposite the base belonging to the Turkish occupation in the region. On Saturday, Moscow drew its attention to the northern and northwestern countryside of Hasakeh to send warning messages to the Turkish regime, where the Turkish occupation army is expected to penetrate the buffer zone if it receives orders from Erdogan.
Local sources in Qamishli told Al-Watan that Moscow has strengthened its military presence at the city’s airport with warplanes and a squadron of helicopters to pressure the Turkish regime and play a larger and more influential military role. These reports refute the malicious news and reports that Russian forces are withdrawing from north and northeast Syria.
Observers noted the decline in the tone of Turkish diplomatic threats following the Turkish Security Council meeting, which Erdogan chaired on Thursday, as well as the statements of Erdogan’s foreign minister, which linked the process to SDF’s continued escalation.
The observers expressed their conviction that the dual Russian-American veto of Erdogan’s regime — which rejected a new military operation toward the Syrian border territory to establish a “safe zone” — had changed calculations in the field. The development had pushed Erdogan to move politically to pursue his hobbies of blackmail and deception, in order to achieve his expansionist goals and ambitions.
Last Thursday, Russian and U.S. occupation planes sent warnings to the Erdogan regime in the northern countryside of Hassakeh, indicating that he should not risk new military action inside the Syrian border.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
