TURKEY is sending reinforcements into Syria’s Idlib governorate before an expected offensive by the Syrian army aimed at retaking the rebel-controlled province.

A military convoy was reported crossing the border this morning, a day after Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said he was working with Russia and Iran to “stop a humanitarian tragedy” if Damascus’s forces enter the area.

Turkey established 12 observation posts around Idlib last year, but the province itself is controlled by two rival jihadist alliances, the al-Qaida offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the National Liberation Front (NLF), a merger announced last month between Ahrar al-Sham and Nour al-Din al-Zinki, the group that received notoriety in 2016 after its fighters released a video in which they beheaded a 12-year-old boy they accused of being a spy.