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Turkish forces withdraw from largest base in northeast Syria

Ankara has begun pulling back forces and equipment from an observation post long surrounded by regime forces in Syria’s northeast Idlib province.
A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin, near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on October 20, 2020 after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. - Turkey started withdrawing from one of its largest outposts in northwest Syria encircled for the past year by Syrian regime forces, a war monitor and a pro-Ankara rebel commander said. The outpost in Morek is Turkey's largest in the northwest province of Hama, which is now mostly under Syrian government control.

ISTANBUL ­— Turkish forces began withdrawing from Ankara’s largest base in Syria’s northeastern Idlib province shortly after midnight Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The group reported that convoys carrying military personnel and equipment were seen leaving the Morek base, one of 12 Turkish observation posts established in the region to monitor a fragile cease-fire in the nine-year-old conflict.

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