The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) stands face-to-face with the Turkish Armed Forces along a frontline area of some 15 kilometers after Islamic State forces carried out a large-scale tactical withdrawal from the Al-Bab front on Thursday.

Although being firmly opposed to one another since the Syrian rebellion began in 2011, these two national armies have for the most part shied away from direct military confrontation.

Next up, the Turkish Army and Syrian rebel forces aligned with Ankara must decide whether to initiate potentially costly clashes with the SAA, retake areas lost to Kurdish forces or possibly dash towards Raqqa, an ISIS-held city over 160 kilometers away.

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In the past, the SAA and Turkish Army have exchanged artillery fire in Latakia province and clashed sporadically in northeastern Aleppo. Nevertheless, Turkey continues to supply Syrian Islamist rebels generously with armaments and military equipment.

Due to ISIS’ retreat earlier in the day, the Turkish Army, Ahrar al-Sham, Faylaq al-Sham and Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions composed primarily of Turkmen fighters managed to take control of Al-Bab, Bza’ah, Qabasin and Tall Batnan all in the matter of a few hours.

Meanwhile, the SAA’s Tiger Forces also continued their offensive into ISIS-held territories further south, capturing two villages near Deir Hafer around noon.

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Chris Tomson
Student currently living in Denmark. Special focus on news from Syria, MENA map-making and strategical military analysis.

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12 Comments on "Syrian Army faces off with the Turkish Army in rural Aleppo – Map update"

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Piet Saman
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so the turks can choose between loosing from the SAA or loosing from the SDF

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23/02/2017 17:59
hestroy
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You mean probably losing, don’t you? I hope Turks will bleed hardly until their economy will collapse.

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23/02/2017 20:42
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Stern Daler
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IMHO Yes hestroy. And he is probably right – the SAA and SDF have the right experience and equipment to lick them. But the Turk army has numbers. IMHO You point at the real problem of Turkey. Their economy lacks the resources for a real war and it is fragile. Key sections like tourism are vulnerable or depend on foreign capital. You need a robust economy to feed a big army. The lagging economy has been the problem of the sick man at the Bosporus for 200 years. While the Ottoman empire at its height had lavish resources to spend… Read more »
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24/02/2017 03:53
Oğuz
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If we think about a continuous war, you are right. For example a war bw. Turkey and Iran. But the situation is different. Some militia groups wander around a country. Its not a continuous war.

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24/02/2017 06:39
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Stern Daler
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Oğuz. IMHO You are right. A war against the wandering terrorists is much cheaper than a war between big states.

But terrorist groups are not bound by international treaties and can do nasty things to an economy.

Imagine a car bomb on a Istanbul bridge or before an Antalya hotel. That will really cost taxes.

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24/02/2017 12:23
Daeshbags Sux
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Daeshbags Sux
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Airdropping Erdolf and AKP heads, which are just another M.Brotherhood turd, over Raqqa or Mosul would be enough. So should be done to one of their main ally : Hamas

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24/02/2017 01:28
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Stern Daler
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SAA and SDF are experienced but the Turks have a numerical numbers.

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23/02/2017 19:37
kit
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They have a million soldiers, they could swarm over both if they wished. Look at how they thought ‘screw it’ and just invaded northern syria to be in this situation, don’t underestimate what random, crazy stuff they’ll do.

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23/02/2017 20:40
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Both the SAA and the Kurds have better to do than fight the Turks.

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23/02/2017 19:36
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Nestor Arapa
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Aquí la prueba, espero que el ejercito Sirio frene el avance de los mercenarios invasores Islamistas de Erdogan.

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24/02/2017 02:33
Real prophet
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God bless Syria and the gov he put in place there Assad, Isishit only retreated because Turkish reanforcment came in with co ordanation to give Isis breathing space therefore the Turks will loose any battle it implies as punishment for it lies,.

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24/02/2017 14:21
Oğuz
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Comparing SAA and Turkish Army. You got to be kidding. :D. TA can take all the Syria to Damascus. But there is a price for that. Noone will not dare to attack one another.

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24/02/2017 06:32
wpDiscuz