With Syria tensions in mind, Turkey reappoints former defense minister to

Explaining the move, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was created to protect the country’s border if Turkish security comes under threat.

Speculation reached fever pitch late Thursday after Turkey dispatched additional troops along part of its border with Syria as fighting between Islamist-led groups and Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo intensified.

The commanders of troops deployed along the border will take part in a high-level meeting to hammer out all contingency plans for a possible intervention in Syria, a Turkish daily reported on Sunday.

Davutoglu’s ruling party lost its parliamentary majority in last month’s national elections and is expected to begin talks next week to build a coalition government with one of three smaller parties represented in parliament.

Davutoglu told reporters that he proposed Gonul as new defense minister for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s approval.

Members of parliament on Wednesday elected Ismet Yilmaz, who had served as defence minister since served since 2011, as their speaker.

Ankara has mooted the development of a “secure zone” in Syrian location resulting from questions about Syrian Kurd loans and to discover the existence of Islamic State militants, plus the probability of a brand uncertainty of refugees running disagreement.

Syrian government forces mounted heavy air strikes on Friday against rebel positions in and around Aleppo, the focus of an insurgent offensive aimed at capturing areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the British-based monitor, the 13 groups in the alliance announced the launch of the “Ansar al-Sharia operations room” on Thursday. They said the situation was quiet on Friday morning.

Davutoglu said Assad, whose forces and allied militias hold western districts of Aleppo, had been cooperating with Islamic State militants in attacking the moderate opposition.

They said the aim was to “liberate Aleppo and the countryside” and “to draft a joint covenant to run Aleppo after its liberation in line with sharia” Islamic law.

Taking Zahra would help to open up rebel access to the border with Turkey, Obeid added.