Turkey gets comfortable in northern Syria
Turkey appears to be preparing to remain in Syrian areas under its control without much thought for the long-term financial and political costs.
Turkey continues to entrench itself militarily in northern Syria and all signs indicate that it is preparing to remain in parts of the region that it controls for the long haul. Ankara is setting up local governments and the institutional infrastructure overseen by Turkish military and civilian officials.
According to local sources, Ankara has deployed more than 10,000 troops to the region and sent over 7,000 military trucks and armored vehicles including tanks in Idlib province since February. The ongoing deployment includes state-of-the-art air defense systems.
Meanwhile, Russia is shoring up the Syrian military with modern fighter jets and other military hardware.
Ankara secured far less territory in northern Syria than it expected from the three major cross-border offensives it has conducted against the Islamic State and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) since 2017. The ultimate aims of its Euphrates Shield (2017), Olive Branch (2018), and Spring Shield (2019-2020) operations were circumscribed by the United States and Russia.
