SYRIA FORCES PUSH DEEPER INTO LAST REBEL STRONGHOLD
▶ Town and four villages seized in drive to take rebel-held airport as many of Idlib’s civilians flee for their lives
Syrian government forces claimed victories in Idlib yesterday in a two-week “scorched earth” offensive on the final rebel-held province.
The government of president Bashar Al Assad said its forces had captured the town of Atshan and four villages around the southern part of Idlib bordering Hama province.
The probable target of the offensive is a military airport near the city of Abu Duhor that has been under rebel control for more than two years.
Samer Allawi, an officer with Jaish Al Nasr – one of the rebel groups fighting in Idlib – said the government’s troops were gaining ground with an air and artillery assault.
“They were able to capture two villages,” Mr Allawi said. “The reason for the progress of the regime is Russian air support. We are fighting Russia and Iran, not Bashar Al Assad.”
He was referring to Iranbacked militias, including Lebanon’s Hizbollah, who have aided the Syrian regime in its fight.
Mr Allawi said rebels had shot down a Russian helicopter near the city of Rastan, south of Hama city.
“Othman”, an activist in the southern Idlib town of Khan Sheikhoun said the government’s advances had been exaggerated, and that despite the heavy shelling and air strikes by Russian and Syrian government planes, the rebels were largely holding their ground. He said the air strikes were targeting civilians.
“Warplanes don’t bomb villages at the front line, they bomb villages that are quite far away from the front line,” he said.
Residents of Idlib have faced frequent shelling and strikes since the rebels gained significant territory there in 2012, a year after the uprising against the Assad regime began.
Many have been fleeing the latest offensive with their belongings piled high on lorries.
“We were the target of strikes more than once – we couldn’t stay,” Abu Ahmed, a man in his 60s, told AFP. “I don’t know how to say how I feel, leaving my land and home at my age.
“We are leaving without even knowing where we’re headed.”
Othman said most of those who fled headed north.
“There isn’t a specific destination for them to go to and most of those who leave their houses because of the battles sleep in the open,” he said.
“The northern areas of Idlib are already hosting huge numbers of displaced. There are many big camps in the area, but their ability to host new displaced persons is limited.”
Some people have put up tents in the Maaret Al Numan in central Idlib.
“We escaped for the sake of the children,” said Abu Khaled, a father of four. He said his family had already fled once, from Hama province to Idlib, where they lived in a camp for the displaced.
The Assad regime stepped up offensives on rebel-held areas in December after ISIL was largely defeated in separate government and US-backed offensives.
In the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus, at least 14 civilians were killed and 43 injured in air strikes and shelling by government forces on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights said.
The monitoring group said that regime air strikes on Harasta killed eight, while six died in regime shelling of Misraba, Kfar Batna, Nashabiyeh and Outaya.
Jabhat Fatah Tahrir Al Sham is a rebel group linked to Al Qaeda and also the main force in Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the rebel coalition that dominates Idlib.
The Syria situation will be discussed during talks in Paris this week between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.