If all were going well with Operation Euphrates Shield, launched by sending Free Syrian Army (FSA) units into Syria backed by Turkish armor, Hurriyet would not have run the Sept. 21 headline “Infantry to Syria.” The infantry the daily was referring to is not that consisting of Arabs, Turkmens, Islamists and even jihadis fighting in Euphrates Shield. No, it refers to Turkish army infantry, which has not seen combat in Syria.

According to Hurriyet, to wrest al-Bab, some 18 miles from the Turkish border, from the Islamic State (IS), combat infantry forces from the Turkish army will enter Syria along with special forces and armored units. An unidentified senior official was quoted as telling the newspaper that a more comprehensive force would be needed to reach al-Bab. To get to al-Bab, however, Dabik, about 12 miles from the Turkish border, first has to be captured. Intelligence has warned that this will not be as easy as capturing Jarablus, which IS had abandoned. There are trenches around Dabik along with landmines, improvised explosive devices and the danger of anti-tank missiles.

Hurriyet revealed at the end of its report why Operation Euphrates Shield cannot continue without Turkish infantry: IS has recaptured scores of Turkmen villages south of Jarablus from FSA militias. IS owes this success in part to the withdrawal of the 600-strong Suqour al-Jabal group, which refused the support of US Special Forces.

From the outset, there were doubts about whether Euphrates Shield could be sustained without the involvement of Turkish ground troops. It was not difficult to foresee that the biggest weakness was the inadequacy of the motley crew of jihadis assembled under the FSA banner. To make up for this deficiency, the Turkish army will have to deploy increasing numbers of troops to advance southward in Syria and thus into the quagmire. It was obvious after capturing villages with the support of Turkish tanks that the FSA would not be able to hold them.