Turkey deploys special forces to Syrian border
On June 28, Turkey announced that it is deploying special forces and military equipment to the border with Syria. According to the Anadolu news agency, a convoy of armored vehicles and SWAT teams arrived in the Reyhanlı and Kırıkhan districts in the Hatay Province near the border.
Also, the Turkish Ministry of Defense reported that it carried out an "effective strike" on the positions of the Syrian national army, controlled by President Bashar al-Assad. According to Turkey, Syrian army uses this position to bomb one of the observation points of the Turkish armed forces in the province of Idlib, in North-West Syria. A day before one Turkish soldier was killed after the shelling of the Turkish observation post in the South of Idlib. Three other soldiers were injured. The Agency also reports that Turkey "closely monitors the processes in the de-escalation zone" and told Russia that Ankara "will give the harshest response to any attacks on observers in Idlib."
About three million civilians live in the Idlib province, that remains the last stronghold of the Syrian armed opposition. The region is mainly controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that is close to al-Qaeda. Since late April, government forces have been attacking the rebels, trying to remove them from the region.