Turkey has sent convoys of troops to Syria’s province of Idlib, despite its defense minister having said a military operation would drag the enclave toward disaster.

A report by Haaretz Israeli daily said that Turkey has sent convoys of troops to reinforce its presence in the northern province, the only remaining terrorist stronghold in the country.

The reinforcements come despite Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar’s recent warnings against a military solution.

Akar said during a meeting with foreign ambassadors Wednesday that a military operation would drag the region toward a humanitarian catastrophe, Anadolu News agency reported.

“We are working with Russia, Iran and other allies to bring peace and stability and to stop a humanitarian tragedy,” Akar said, according to Anadolu.

Haaretz cited activists of the Britain-based “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights”, who reported earlier this week that a convoy of Turkish forces entered the province from the Kfar Lusin crossing in northern Idlib and then moved to some of the 12 Turkish observation points scattered throughout the province border.

Another monitoring group, the “Central Station for Turkish Intervention”, shot a video of armored vehicles and tanks driving by an Idlib road, according to the report.

Both groups claimed the convoy was headed to two different observation points. Ankara has not yet commented on the reports.

Source: Sputnik