Turkey’s state-run news organization Anadolu is reporting that the military of President Erdogan has sent 80 military vehicles including tanks to its southern border with Syria.

The military forces were deployed to the Iskendurun district of the southeastern province of Hatay, as part of the government’s plan to reinforce troops along the Turkish/Syrian border according to unnamed military sources.

A convoy of about 18 Turkish army vehicles arrived in an area close to the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border

Late on Saturday, Anadolu also reported that the army had dispatched first aid trucks and military vehicles to the same location, along with heavy equipment.

A third convoy of armoured vehicles was heading to Hatay’s Reyhanli district, where Turkey’s Cilvegozu border gate with Syria is located, Anadolu said.

On Friday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said Russia, Iran and Turkey had agreed to deploy observers around a de-escalation zone in northern Syria’s Idlib region, which is mostly controlled by militants linked to a former al Qaeda affiliate.

On Friday, there were reports that the three countries planned to divide the Idlib region in three, with Turkish forces and opposition fighters in the northwest region bordering Turkey. This agreement would have Iranian and Syrian army forces deployed to the southeast, with Russian forces in between those two zones.

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Photo courtesy AP