ADDS BACKGROUND
By Mohamed Misto and Burak Karacaoglu
IDLIB, Syria (AA) – Egypt has sent nearly 150 soldiers to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Assad regime, according to military sources.
Reliable military sources told Anadolu Agency that the soldiers had been sent to the Aleppo countryside, Idlib area in coordination with Iranian Revolutionary Guards via the Hama Military Airport.
The troops were later deployed in the Khan al-Asal area in the western countryside of Aleppo and around the city of Saraqib in the southern countryside of Idlib.
Egyptian soldiers are deployed with light weapons and accompanied by Iran-backed terrorist groups on the front lines against moderate Syrian opposition factions.
The arrival of the Egyptian soldiers coincides with increasing deployments of Iranian groups and regime forces on the frontlines against the opposition forces deployed in the de-escalation zone amid recent violations of the ongoing cease-fire in the region.
Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone laid out in a deal between Turkey and Russia in late 2018. The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.
Since January 2019, the attacks killed more than 1,800 civilians and caused the displacement of over 1,942 million to relatively safer areas or the Turkish border.
