Turkey evacuates Syria outpost long-encircled by regime

AL-NAYRAB, Syria: Turkey on Tuesday started withdrawing from one of its largest outposts in northwest Syria encircled for the past year by Syrian regime forces, a war monitor and a pro-Ankara rebel commander said.

The outpost in Morek is Turkey’s largest in the northwest province of Hama, which is now mostly under Syrian government control. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad encircled it last year following the launch of a regime offensive against the last major opposition bastion in Syria’s northwest.

"After midnight Turkish forces began to evacuate Morek, and this morning a large convoy left" the area, an Ankara-backed Syrian rebel commander told AFP from Al-Nayrab in neighbouring Idlib province.

The troops will be redeployed to Turkish outposts in Idlib, he said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the pullout overnight. The war monitor said that other observation posts also surrounded by regime forces could likewise be evacuated.