Turkey is moving its military transport and emergency vehicles to the area of Reyhanlı town in the Hatay province, located on the Turkey-Syria border.
The convoy was escorted by terrorists from al-Qaida-linked Tahrir al-Sham, previously known as the Nusra Front, Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant Abu Khairo told Reuters. "The Turkish army convoy is entering under the protection of Tahrir al-Sham to take positions on the front line with the YPG," another FSA official in the area told the agency.
The convoy included about 30 military vehicles was heading to Sheikh Barakat, a hilltop that overlooks large areas of terrorist-held northwestern Syria, but also the Afrin area held by the Kurdish YPG militants, the report said.
Ankara regards the YPG as an extension of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that it is fighting at home, and by gaining a presence in Sheikh Barakat, its forces would surround Afrin on three sides.
According to Turkey's pro-government Anadolu news agency, the military transport vehicles will be used within the process of deploying Turkish troops in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The goal of the operation is to establish zones to control the ceasefire observation in northwestern Syria.
During a September round of Astana talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey, the three states that serve as guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire, agreed on all four de-escalation zones in Syria. The sides also reached an agreement on rules of operation in buffer zones, checkpoints and observation posts, as well as rules of engagement for units of the de-escalation control force.
