Ankara Forces Ask for $10,000 to Let Idlib Terrorists to Escape to Turkey
Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) terrorists are paying $10,000 each to Turkish border guards to be able to leave Idlib for Turkish soil as the Syrian Army is standing order to launch a major operation in Northwestern Syria, a media outlet reported on Tuesday.
The Arabic-language al-Watan daily quoted local sources in border regions of Darkoush, Salqin and Khirbet al-Joz in Idlib province as reporting that the Turkish border guards exchanged fire with terrorists that tried to escape Idlib towards Turkish territories.
The daily further said that the fighting erupted as the terrorists of Tahrir al-Sham were bargaining to lower the amount of money the Turkish guards had asked for to let the militants escape Idlib for Turkey.
It further pointed to intensified clashes between the Turkish border guards and terrorists in the last two days, adding that Tahrir al-Sham commanders have not thus far agreed to pay the demanded sums to the border guards to enter Turkey.
The daily quoted field sources in Jisr al-Shughour in Western Idlib as disclosing that the border guards have demanded Tahrir al-Sham to pay $10,000 each to receive a permission to cross the border, while they ave asked the terrorists of al-Tahrir al-Wataniyeh Front (the National Liberation Front) for only $5,000 for the same permission.
Turkey’s Yeni Safak daily claimed on Monday that the Turkish army has kept more than 50,000 FSA terrorists on alert in Afrin, Azaz, Jarabulus, al-Bab and al-Rai regions to further sent them to battle against the Syrian government forces’ operation in Idlib province.
It further said that 30,000 FSA gunmen are in regions under the occupation of the Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch forces, “and a sum 20,000 FSA fighters are to be transferred to Idlib to counter the Damascus forces’ upcoming operation”.
The daily went on to say that Turkish army has urged its allied militants to report the exact number of their gunmen and volume of arms and ammunition.
It said that the Turkish army has in recent days sent a number of cannons and missile launchpads to the borders with Syria and has reinvigorated its forces’ combat capabilities.
FARS