Turkish president Erdogan makes BIG claim as rebels seize control of one more Syrian city, says the target is…

In a major development in the Syria civil war, Syria's rebel forces on Friday stormed Daraa, and now have control over 90 percent of the city after forcing Assad's forces to retreat. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the next target of rebels is Syrian capital Damascus.

Syria Civil War: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reaffirmed his support for rebel insurgents in Syria who have taken control of another major Syrian city, dealing a major body blow to President Bashar al-Assad. According to UK-based Syrian Observatory, rebels have seized control of Daraa– the seat of the 2011 rebel uprising against the Assad regime.

‘Target is Damascus’

On Friday, Syria’s rebel forces stormed Daraa, and now have control over 90 percent of the city after forcing Assad’s forces to retreat in successive waves. Hailing the rebels’ success, Erdogan said he hoped that the opposition forces continue to advance against Assad’s army.

“The target is Damascus. I would say we hope for this advance to continue without any issues,” the Turkish President said, stating that he hopes the rebel offensive takes the Syrian capital without any hindrance.

“However, while this resistance there with terrorist organisations is continuing, we had made a call to Assad,” Erdogan said while referring to his attempts to meet Assad earlier this year and normalize Turkey-Syria ties after over a decade of enmity.

Erdogan stressed that the “problematic advances” in the region are “not in a manner we desire”. “Our heart does not want these. Unfortunately, the region is in a bind,” he said.

For years, Turkey has supported the rebel forces who aim to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who is a close ally of Turkey’s rivals, Iran and Russia. However, Ankara has also termed some insurgent groups in the region, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former affiliate of the Al-Qaeda, as terrorists. HTS is one of the key insurgent groups among the Syrian rebel forces.

Rebels capture Hama, Iran evacuates military

Syrian rebels have gained major victories in a very short span of time, capturing Hama city on Thursday, and Aleppo before that, in their week-old offensive across northern Syria.

Turkey has refuted claims of involvement in rekindling the insurgency, and asserted that Ankara has not provided any material support to the rebel forces.

Meanwhile, in a development which could be prove to be the proverbial final nail in the coffin for the Assad regime, Iran on Friday started evacuating its military commanders and personnel from Syria, according to New York Times. Experts claim the move is a clear sign of Tehran’s inability to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.

According to the report, Iran has evacuated several top commanders of its Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), to neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon. The evacuation began on Friday morning at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus and at the bases of the Revolutionary Guards, it said, adding that some of embassy staff had also departed.

The evacuation was carried out by planes to Tehran while some left via land routes to Lebanon, Iraq, and the Syrian port of Latakia, as per the New York Time.

Syria civil war

For nearly a decade, Syria has been embroiled in a bloody civil war between government forces backed by Iran, Russia, and other allies, and rebel forces backed by the US and its NATO allies. The rebels aim to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, which they claim is autocratic and dictatorial, however, the conflict is much more complex than it seems on surface.

The Syria civil war is essentially an extension of the millennia old rivalry between the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam, with both group trying to assert their dominance in the region.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam which originated in present-day Iraq, and fled to the Latakia province in the 10th century AD to escape oppression and persecution by Muslim rulers who viewed them as heretics.

Iran, being preeminent Shia power in the Middle East, has thus openly supported the Assad regime in its battle against the Sunni rebel groups, who are backed by Turkey and its NATO allies.