Al-Qaeda-led fighters on widest offensive against Syrian troops
White Helmets were rendered non-operational
Insurgents led by an Al-Qaedalinked group launched one of their widest offensives yet yesterday against Syrian progovernment forces, which responded with heavy airstrikes targeting hospitals and first responders. Pro-government media said the airstrikes targeted insurgent supply lines from the northwestern Idlib province, a stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked group. Opposition activists and rescue workers said at least one civilian was killed. They said two hospitals, and two centers used by volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, were rendered non-operational.
The offensive tests a newly announced “deescalation zone” in Idlib, the latest of four such areas declared by Russia and Iran, which support the Syrian government, and Turkey, which backs the rebels. Fighting has largely subsided in the other three zones, near Damascus, in the central Homs province and in southern Syria. The “de-escalation zones” have freed up Syrian troops and allied militias to battle the Islamic State group in the eastern Deir el-Zour province and other areas.
The Syrian government-affiliated Central Military Media outlet acknowledged the insurgent offensive just south of Idlib and said forces responded with intensive airstrikes and shelling, killing a number of insurgents. Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said airstrikes pummeled the front line but also targeted southern Idlib, hitting at least four medical centers.
Hospitals attacked
Abdurrahman said an elderly woman was killed near a hospital in Alteh, south of Idlib. The opposition-run Qasioun News Agency said two hospitals were knocked out of service because of the strikes. The White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, said two of its centers were also non-operational. The group counted at least 40 airstrikes in the area since early yesterday.
Abdurrahman said the offensive is the widest so far targeting the government-held city of Hama. He said thousands of fighters, led by the Al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir alSham and its allies, including Chinese fighters of the Turkistan Islamic Party, took part in the offensive. He said the Alezzah Army, a rebel group formerly backed by the United States, was fighting alongside the other insurgents.
The insurgents seized two villages and used car bombs to attack pro-government forces, he said. Insurgents have tried to advance on the nearby city of Hama on several occasions. During their most recent offensive, launched in March, a chemical attack widely blamed on government forces killed more than 80 civilians in Idlib.
Also yesterday, the US-led coalition against the IS group confirmed that it had closed one of its two bases in southern Syria. Coalition spokesman Col Ryan Dillon said that after the closure of the Zakaf base, coalition and allied Syrian forces are now only operating out of the larger Tanf base near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders.
The Zakaf base was established months ago as the US expanded its presence in the area it was planning to use a launch pad for operations against IS in eastern Syria. But a Syrian government offensive, backed by Iran, essentially cut the base off. US-backed Syrian forces are meanwhile advancing in Deir elZour, just a few miles away from the Syrian government offensive, as the two sides race to secure the oil-rich province bordering Iraq. Dillon said US-trained Arab fighters in Tanf will eventually join that campaign. —AFP