Syrian military source alleges 'Islamist' Turkish role in Idlib offensive.

Syrian military source alleges 'Islamist' Turkish role in Idlib offensive. (Yahoo).

A Syrian military source accused Turkey on Monday of helping Islamist rebels to stage an assault on Idlib, a provincial capital which fighters seized at the weekend.

The source declined to comment on the situation in Idlib, citing security considerations, but a monitoring group has confirmed the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and allies now control Idlib and said the Syrian air force bombed the city on Monday.

The fall of Idlib, 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border, marks only the second time in the Syrian civil war that Damascus has lost control of a provincial capital. The first was Raqqa, which the ultra-radical Islamic State group has turned into the de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.

Echoing more general comments by President Bashar al-Assad, the military source accused both Turkey and Jordan of supporting the insurgents in their Idlib offensive, saying they were "leading operations and planning them". The insurgents were using advanced communication apparatus that had been supplied to them via Turkey, the source added.

The Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment.

Turkey is one of the regional states most hostile to Assad, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In an interview with the U.S. network CBS, Assad described Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as a "Muslim Brotherhood fanatic" who was directly supporting insurgents "logistically and militarily" daily.

Syria's government has not commented on the fall of Idlib, though the pro-government Watan newspaper published in Damascus reported on Monday that the Nusra Front and its allies had raised the al Qaeda flag over government buildings in the city.

Nusra Front was joined by groups including the hardline Ahrar al-Sham in seizing Idlib on Saturday, a reminder of the pressures facing Damascus after more than four years of crisis.

The Islamist alliance rejected a call by the Turkish-based mainstream political opposition to let an interim government set up its headquarters in Idlib, saying it would ruled by those "in the trenches and not in hotels".

The Nusra Front's influence in northwestern Syria has been expanding at the expense of mainstream rebel groups, some of which received U.S. military support. It is a rival of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized territory in both Syria and Iraq.

Ahrar al-Sham issued a statement urging the people of Idlib to help fighters run the city and saying they were not seeking to set up an Islamic emirate. Hmmmmm........I can not more agree with the tweet below. Read the full story here.

In a few month, when #Idlib sinks into islamism, #Turkey's role will be made crystal clear #Syria https://t.co/RrZuUktbyy
— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) March 31, 2015

Related: 'Islamist' Sometimes NATO Ally Turkey welcomes fall of key city in Syria’s north to Terrorist group Al Nusra.