Routed FSA faction likely to accept Turkish aid, demands
After being ousted from the western Aleppo countryside, the Nour al-din al-Zenki Movement seems to have no choice but to accept Turkey's offer of aid — and meet its conditions.
ALEPPO, Syria — Talks are underway within the Free Syrian Army’s Nour al-din al-Zenki Movement on the Turkish government’s offer of support. The movement has been examining the Turkish conditions of the deal since Jan. 20.
Turkish financial support for Nour al-din al-Zenki has been irregular, coming from Ankara just a few times, a military source within the movement told Al-Monitor.
The National Front for Liberation has been providing the movement with financial support since it joined its ranks in August. Other funding sources included the Nour al-din al-Zenki-run al-Mansoura crossing separating areas under its control in the western Aleppo countryside from the regime-held areas in Aleppo. The movement’s officials declined to reveal other sources.
There were multiple encounters between Turkish security officials and leaders of the movement between Jan. 20 and Feb. 5, in the Afrin countryside's Jindires, where the movement headed following its withdrawal from the western Aleppo countryside Jan. 5. The retreat followed fierce battles against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in January that ended up with the latter seizing the western Aleppo countryside in four days. During the meetings, the Turks put forward their conditions for financial and military support for the movement.
