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Is a storm brewing for Turkey in Idlib?

The increasing presence of jihadis in the last remaining opposition enclave is giving Bashar al-Assad a pretext to threaten an attack on the region where Turkish forces are also deployed.

A picture taken on July 19, 2018 shows rebel fighters on a tank, entering town of Fuaa in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib after thousands of its residents were evacuated to regime-controlled areas. - Several thousand residents evacuated two pro-regime towns in northern Syria today, putting an end to one of the longest sieges of the country's seven-year civil war.
Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province were the last remaining areas under blockade in Syria and a rare example of pro-government towns surr
Rebel fighters on a tank entering the town of Fua, Syria, July 19, 2018. — MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images

Ankara is focused on multiple issues in Syria, where events are not moving in "the desired direction" for Turkey, to quote President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. One area Ankara is concentrating on with growing concern is Idlib, a region where "anything can happen at any time," according to Erdogan.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad repeated last week that Idlib, the last major opposition enclave, will be the Syrian army’s next target now that its mission in the south is all but concluded.

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