350 armed rebels enter northern Syria through Turkish border

Turkey has allowed 350 armed rebels to enter, through its borders, into the northern province of Aleppo to take part in defending a key Syrian border town from the Syrian military offensive, a monitor group reported on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkish authorities allowed 350 Syria rebels with light and heavy arms to move from Syria's northwestern province of Idlib through the Turkish borders, namely the Atamah military crossing, into Syria's northern province of Aleppo to take part in defending the strategic border town of Tal Rifat from the approaching Syrian military forces.

The UK-based watchdog group said Turkey allowed the rebels to move through its territories and further supervised their movement from the countryside of Idlib to the northern countryside of Aleppo.

It said that 15 militant groups were killed Sunday in the battles around Tal Rifat, adding that the Russian warplanes carried out 18 airstrikes against rebel-held in Tal Rifat.

The Syrian army and the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were approaching the strategic town after dislodging the rebels from key areas in northern Aleppo, as part of the crushing offensive it carried out in Aleppo and the northwestern province of Latakia to close the borders with Turkey, from which much of the militants and their arms come into the war-torn country.

The Syrian government has always accused Turkey of facilitating the flow of jihadists into Syria. It's latest accusation was made on Sunday, when it condemned the Turkish shelling of Kurdish areas in northern Syria.

Turkish latest move aims apparently to bring to a halt the Kurdish progress toward Tal Rifat and to prop up the militants it backs in northern Syria. Endit