Terrorists in Syria Build 'Army' With Turkish Help

Date: 12 August 2018 - 21:43

News ID: ۵۶۲۰۰

AZAZ, Syria (Dispatches) – A so-called "National Army” being set up by terrorists in Syria with Turkey’s help could become a long-term obstacle to President Bashar al-Assad’s recovery of the northwest - if they can end factional rivalries that have long blighted the terrorists.
The effort is at the heart of plans by the Turkish-backed opposition to secure and govern a strip of territory that forms part of the last big terrorist stronghold in Syria.
The presence of Turkish forces on the ground has helped shield it from government attack.
Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to recover "every inch” of Syria, and though he has now won back most of the country, the Turkish presence will complicate any government offensive in the northwest.
Turkey’s role has gone beyond supporting allied Syrian forces to rebuilding schools and hospitals. At least five branches of the Turkish post office have opened in the area.
Colonel Haitham Afisi, head of the so-called National Army, says setting up the force has been no easy task over the last year.
"We are at the beginning. We face many difficulties but we are working to overcome them," Afisi told Reuters on Sunday.
Afisi is trying to unite the terrorist groups. He has ordered them to stop "randomly opening fire" and wear uniforms. Various terrorist outfits have also been banned from operating their own jails and courts and from carrying out extrajudicial arrests.
"All the support for the national army is from Turkey, there are no other states partnering in this matter," Afisi said.
Turkey began operating in northern Syria in 2016 under the banner of fighting the terror group of Daesh, while pushing against Kurdish militants, whom it associates with anti-Ankara separatists. Earlier this year, Turkish forces invaded Syria again, this time seizing the northern region of Afrin.
The country has refused to heed calls for withdrawal by Damascus, which views the presence as "occupation.”
Syria, however, has rid most of the country’s expanse of militant and terrorist presence, and President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recover "every inch” of his country.

Turkish tanks are parked near the Syrian border at Hassa in Turkey's Hatay Province on January 24, 2018, as part of the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin.