Syrian Government Captures Last Stretch of Damascus to Aleppo Highway
Edward Yeranian - Voice of America
Syrian government forces now control all of the strategic Damascus to Aleppo highway, which they had been trying to wrest from Turkish-backed rebels for weeks. As Syrian troops continue to push ahead inside the rebel-held enclave of Idlib, Turkey sent reinforcements to observations posts it occupies, while dispatching its foreign minister to Moscow.
Syrian state TV showed bulldozers and engineering crews clearing rubble from the final stretch of the Damascus to Aleppo highway, which government forces captured from Turkish-backed rebels in Idlib province during the past several days.
Chief Highway Engineer Mohammed Wazzan said that the highway is the main lifeline between Damascus and Aleppo and that government crews were working to reopen the last stretch – which it just captured – despite the bad condition of the roadway.
He says that maintenance crews are working hard to reopen the highway, which has been out of service for five years, clearing earth and rubble from the surface, making sure land mines have been removed, and spreading asphalt in some places.
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Arab media that the Turkish army had brought in more armored vehicles and troops to the 12 checkpoints in Idlib province that it controls, following a Turkish-Russian accord agreed to last year in the resort of Sochi.
Turkish media reported that Ankara was sending its foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to Moscow to discuss the latest developments in Idlib. Cavusoglu, who was at the Munich Security Conference, told journalists that Ankara "wants to resolve its dispute with Russia (which supports Syrian government forces) diplomatically," but added that Turkey "will take decisive steps" if that is not possible.
Arab media showed video of Syrian government troops entering the towns of Orm al-Kubra, Orm al-Sughra and Kufr Naha, which it captured from Turkish-backed rebels within the past 24 hours. Syrian state TV showed the bodies of rebels strewn outside the walls of Orm al-Kubra.