Turkey arms Syrian rebels facing Russian-backed assault

Syrian rebels received a fresh supply of weaponry from Turkey to assist in their battle against a Russian-backed regime assault, senior opposition officials and rebel sources said on Saturday.

Turkey reinforced its troop presence at more than a dozen military bases that were set up under a de-escalation deal with Russia, a senior rebel commander said.

Dozens of armoured vehicles Grad rocket launchers, anti-tank guided missiles and so-called TOW missiles arrived with a Turkish military convoy at a base in northern Hama near rebel-held Jabal al Zawiya, where Russian and Syrian jets have been pounding for weeks, a rebel and a witness said.

Washington had reportedly approved the use of TOW missiles by Turkey-backed mainstream rebels, a Western intelligence source said, Reuters reported.

The Turkey-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) failed to confirm or deny the latest updates however Spokesman Captain Naji Mustafa said rebels have long had an arsenal of weapons from anti-tank to armoured vehicles “alongside material and logistical support by our Turkish brothers”.

The latest reports came as local activists said Syrian regime forces dropped thermobaric and cluster bombs, as well as bombs containing napalm on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib province on Saturday night.

The activists said that regime forces carried out 28 strikes, killing one civilian and injuring several others. Two children were also injured in an airstrike on a village north of Khan Sheikhoun.

The town of Khan Sheikhoun was the target of a regime chemical attack in 2017 which killed at least 89 people.

The Syrian Civil Defence said that the regime’s bombing on Saturday caused fires along the Damascus-Aleppo highway near Khan Sheikhoun, burning agricultural land and crops. 

The Civil Defence also put out fires caused by regime bombing near the towns of Taftinaz, Kafrouma and Maarat al-Nu’man.

Idlib province and northern Hama province, which are under the control of Syrian opposition forces, have been under a sustained regime assault since last month. 

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and more than 180,000 have been displaced as a result. The assault is taking place despite a de-escalation agreement signed in September 2018 and guaranteed by Turkey, Russia, and Iran.

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