Is Turkey ready to take on jihadis in Syria’s Idlib?

While Turkey and Russia seek to maintain a cease-fire in Idlib, the Syrian government and jihadi groups want to resume battles.
A Turkish military convoy drives along the M4 highway, which links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, near the village of al-Nayrab, about 14 kilometres southeast of Idlib city and seven kilometres west of Saraqib in northwestern Syria on March 25, 2020. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)
A Turkish military convoy drives along the M4 highway, which links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, near the village of al-Nayrab, about 14 kilometers southeast of Idlib city, Syria, March 25, 2020. - OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images
KhaledAlKhateb.jpg
Khaled al-Khateb
@khaleedalkhteb

ALEPPO, Syria — Turkey has been seeking to secure the strategic flashpoint M4 highway connecting Aleppo and Latakia in southern Idlib in a bid to resume joint Russian-Turkish patrols, as per the cease-fire reached between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on March 5.

The Turkish army has recently stepped up measures, mostly sending more military convoys, setting up new outposts on both sides of the road and conducting patrols in separate parts of the strategic highway.

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