This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batchelor. Malcolm Holine, Conference of President's major American Jewish organization, joins me as my colleague and co-host.

And we're very pleased to welcome the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, Sinan City, to help us with right now a non-transparent battlefield that would be Syria and the news

that the HTS, which is an organization associated once upon a time with al-Qaeda and ISIS out

of Idlib province, is advancing fast towards Damascus led by a a man named Ahmad Mohammed al-Jalani,

an old-time jihadist who's renovated himself into being called in rebel by European media.

I note that Aleppo is said to be under the control of HTS, a very large city, the second largest in Syria.

And now Hama, the fourth largest city, is said to have fallen to the advancing rebels slash jihadists.

The mystery here is what's driving this, what's supplying rebels or jihadists who were last in retreat into Idlib province

where they've been coexisting with other allies, some of them jihadists, some of them locals.

However, Sinan, a very good evening to you. Thank you for this. Two days ago, the Financial Times reported

that one individual had displayed a Turkish flag on a wall in Aleppo. The implication was

Turkey's on board. Today, the FT reported out of London that the vehicles being used by HTS and their allies were Turkish

secondhand army vehicles. Can you help us understand Turkey's presence or non-presence in this

advance on Damascus? Good evening to you. Good evening. Thanks for having me. So I would say

Turkey has been very present in this uprisings in the last week or so.

Turkey is no stranger in its relationship and patronage of HTS.

Their relationship goes back a long way through the thick and thin of the Syrian Civil War.

Also, the province of Idlib is just across the Turkish border of Hatai, where essentially

the supply lines for HTS were, that's essentially where all the sort of materials was funneled from.

We've not really had definitive evidence in the past that the Turkish state was directly militarily supporting and arming the HDS forces.

But that's just an unknown.

But as the FD is reporting, we do know that they're getting weapons.

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