Syrian troops capture key rebel town despite Turkish warning

ANKARA, Turkey — Syrian government troops captured a key opposition town in the northwest Wednesday despite threats by Turkey’s president to use force if they don’t pull back by the end of the month, an observer group and news network reported.

The town, Saraqeb, sits at the intersection of two major highways, one linking the Syrian capital of Damascus to the north and another connecting the country’ west and east.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an opposition news network said Syrian government troops entered Saraqeb in the evening after an intense day of fighting with opposition fighters, during which several Turkish observation posts were surrounded.

Later Wednesday, the Observatory reported clashes inside the town between Syrian troops and opposition fighters. Turkish troops stationed north of Saraqeb shelled Syrian troops north and west of the town in efforts to break their hold on the town, the Observatory said.

Syrian state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported government forces encircled Saraqeb after advancing toward the town from three directions. Some opposition fighters were reportedly still in the town, while opposition-run Shaam news agency said Syrian troops have not yet entered Saraqeb.

Syrian forces have fought to open the Damascus-Aleppo highway, which rebels have kept shut down since 2012. Saraqeb is the last major rebel-held town in their way.

Turkey, a strong backer of some rebel groups in northwest Syria, has a dozen military observation posts in Idlib province, which borders Turkey. In recent days, Ankara has sent new troops and equipment, setting up posts around Saraqeb in an attempt to keep it from falling into Syrian government hands.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces have made advances into Idlib, the country’s last rebel stronghold, since December. The United Nations said more than 500,000 have been displaced because of the violence.

“If the (Assad) regime does not retreat to areas behind the observations posts, Turkey will be forced to take matters into its own hands,” Erdogan said. He said two of the Turkish observation posts are now behind Syrian lines.

The observation posts were set up as part of an agreement reached in 2018 with Russia — a main supporter of Assad — to monitor a cease-fire that has since collapsed.

During their advance on Saraqeb, Syrian forces surrounded four Turkish observation points, the Observatory and news opposition sites said.

It was not clear what happened to the Turkish observation point or its soldiers. There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.

The opposition-run Baladi News Network also reported the town fell to Syrian control, adding that Saraqeb came under intense Syrian and Russian fire. The Observatory said the opposition fighters withdrew from the town under heavy bombing. Clashes between government forces and opposition fighters continued east of the highway, north of Saraqeb, on Wednesday night. Syrian State news agency SANA reported four civilians were killed in rebel shelling of an Aleppo city district that sits on the highway.

The United States, Britain and France requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the escalating situation in northwest Syria. The open meeting is expected to take place Thursday afternoon and include a briefing by the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, and U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, diplomats said Wednesday ahead of an official announcement.

The United Nations warned Wednesday that the huminatrian situation in northwest Syria is deteriorating.

Some 586,000 people have been displaced since Dec. 1 and over 100,000 others are “facing an immediate risk of displacement,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

He said many of the displaced fled with only the clothes on their back and food, shelter, water, sanitation and education are urgent priorities. A humanitarian plan for the next six months to help up to 800,000 people in the northwest is seeking about $336 million, Dujarric said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to members of his ruling party after rare clashes Monday between Turkish and Syrian troops inside Syria, which killed seven Turkish and 13 Syrian troops.

Erdogan said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a late-night phone call Tuesday that the Syrian forces must retreat to a point agreed on in a 2018 cease-fire agreement.

Russia and Turkey agreed to a demilitarized zone in rebel-held Idlib in which Ankara and Moscow would use their forces to enforce a cease-fire and clear the highways restricted by rebel control. That cease-fire and subsequent truces didn’t survive repeated bouts of violence.

“This is a new era in Syria. Nothing can remain the same where the Turkish soldier’s blood has been shed,” he said.

“If our soldiers’ safety cannot be ensured in Idlib, no one can deny our right to ensure it ourselves,” he added.

Erdogan also called for the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish forces from regions near Turkey’s border. He threatened to resume a Turkish military offensive that was launched into northern Syria last year against Kurdish militias there.

Turkey regards the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents across the border in Turkey. But the Kurdish-led forces inside Syria had also partnered with the U.S. as a valuable ally against the Islamic State group.

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El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed.