Turkish-backed militia proxies in northern Aleppo put on high alert as Syrian military deploys reinforcements: SOHR

The Syrian military is deploying reinforcements to the northern countryside of Aleppo near positions controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) proxy militiaman, who have been put on high alert, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Saturday.

The reinforcements and the order for SNA to be put on high alert came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch another cross-border military operation against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) group.

The Syrian military reinforcements being deployed to northern Aleppo include artillery and Russian-built T-90 main battle tanks, the most advanced and modern tanks in the Syrian military's arsenal, SOHR reported, citing its activist sources on the ground.

Those activists also reported renewed artillery attacks by Turkish forces on Kurdish-held parts of northern Aleppo. The targeted areas included the villages of al-Malikiyah and Qalaat al-Shawarghah. No casualties have been reported.

Erdogan warned last week that Turkey would eliminate all threats from northern Syria, describing a guided missile attack that killed two Turkish military police officers in Syria's Azaz region as "the final straw."

Read More: Two Turkish police officers killed in northern Syria: Turkish Defense Ministry

Turkey claims the attack was launched from the Tel Rifaat region. 

"It is essential that the areas, notably the Tel Rifaat region from which attacks are constantly carried out against us, are cleansed," one senior Turkish official told Reuters on Friday.

Tel Rifaat is located to the east of the northwestern Syrian Kurdish Afrin enclave. After Turkey and its SNA proxies invaded and occupied Afrin in 2018, they displaced tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians who have remained displaced persons living in camps in Tel Rifaat ever since. The YPG, as well as the Syrian military and Russian military police, are present in the area.

On Friday, SOHR activists also reported that a Turkish drone dropped leaflets over Tel Rifaat city that contained threats against Kurdish fighters there. The leaflets also called on civilians in the area to cooperate with Turkish forces. On Saturday, Russian warplanes dropped leaflets over Azaz and Marea, both occupied by the Turkish military and the SNA, warning them against launching any such attack.

If Turkey launches an attack against Tel Rifaat, it will be Ankara's fourth major military operation in Syria. However, Turkey's previous cross-border offensives were only made possible with green lights given by either the United States or Russia, the main powers in Syria, neither of which seem willing to grant Erdogan another cross-border offensive anytime soon.