Alwaght- Syrian Army has reached the gates of ISIS-occupied al-Bab in northern Syria but is facing challenges in liberating the city due to Turkey's illegal incursion in the region.

On Saturday the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the Syrian Army liberated the al-Bab-Raqqa Road from ISIS terrorists a few days ago. "ISIS fighters in al-Bab used to receive arms and ammunition via the highway leading to Raqqa," the ministry said. The statement added that the Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes also destroyed an ISIS base near the city of al-Bab.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Turkish troops illegally operating inside Syrian territory have reportedly entered al Bab accompanied by Syrian opposition militants of the so-called Free Syria Army (FSA). Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "Turkish forces and allied rebels in the Euphrates Shield campaign entered the western edge of the town and took control of a number of areas." Sources say the Turkish Army and its proxy forces currently are in control of roughly 20% of the city.

This is while Syrian troops are also at the gates of the city preparing to liberate it from ISIS terrorists. Al-Bab is 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Turkish border.

Turkey’s so-called Operation Euphrates Shield in late August to allegedly eliminate the terror threat along Turkey's border Syrian opposition militants backed by Turkish artillery and jets.

Syrian, Turkish armies clashes possible

The situation is tense in the region with possibility of deadly fighting flaring up as two national armies directly against one another are separated by a few kilometers. Russia which is providing air support to the Syrian army has already been involved in a fatal incident with the Turkish army.

A few days ago Russian airstrikes accidentally killed three Turkish troops in al-Bab. Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that there should not have been any Turkish troops in the area of the airstrike and that the Russian forces were not informed of their location.

Early February Syria strongly condemned Turkey’s repeated crimes and attacks against the Syrian people and violations of the sanctity and unity of Syria’s territory.

In letters to  the UN Secretary General and President of the Security Council, Damascus referred to the Turkish troops’ incursion into the Syrian territories over the past few days and their occupation of some Syrian villages, including the villages of al-Ghouz and Abu Zibdin west of al-Bab city in northern Aleppo with the aim of advancing towards it. Syria unequivocally stated that these attacks pose a threat to the international peace and security in the framework of the exposed role played by the Turkish regime in supporting terrorism.

What’s Turkey’s interest in al-Bab                   

Turkey’s president Reccep Tayyip Erdogan is on record as having declared that after al-Bab seizure, Ankara’s second goal was capturing Manbij. Indeed, Turkey’s seizure Manbij is to curb fresh gains by the People's Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish forces, which according to Turkey are fed by the PKK and might be instrumental in boosting movements seeking autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-inhabited areas. In an apparent rift with the US which backs some Kurdish groups, Erdogan threatened to close Incirlik Air Base to the US-led forces supposedly fighting ISIS, citing the lack of Washington’s support for his efforts to occupy al-Bab. Some Kurdish groups get air support from the US to allegedly battle ISIS in Syria and Iraq, while Turkey brands them as terrorist.

The main goal of Erdogan’s illegal incursion into Syria is to prevent the unification of the two large Kurdish inhabited regions of Afrin and Manbij along the northern border, and al-Bab is the key junction point between them.

Ankara has stated clearly that Operation Euphrates Shield will continue in Manbij and Afrin, which are both held by YPG, after it occupies al-Bab.

Turkey participation in the US-led coalition which was supposedly formed to combat ISIS is now being questioned as Ankara seems to be bent on occupying parts of Syria for its own internal objectives.