Turkish Post in Syria To Be Evacuated

Turkey will pull its troops from one of its more isolated military bases in northern Syria, as part of a general repositioning it plans to carry out in the war-torn country. The army post in the town of Morek was last year surrounded by Syrian government troops, following their ongoing fighting against rebel forces backed by Ankara. Turkey’s reshuffling is seen as part of an attempt to consolidate the front lines agreed to in the March cease-fire pact it reached with Russia. After the outbreak of civil war in Syria, Turkey backed the rebels who sought to overthrow dictator Bashar al-Assad. But the Syrian strongman, propped up by Russian and Iranian money, weapons and soldiers, managed to drive back opposition fighters who once threatened to conquer Damascus, confining them to small pockets in the county’s northwest.