Idlib rebels move to cut advances by Syria regime

The advance on Khan Sheikhoun threatens to encircle the last territory held by rebels in Hama province

Syrian rebels defending a key town in Idlib province launched a counter-offensive against advancing regime forces on Thursday as a Turkey-backed rebel group said it was sending reinforcements to the area.

Syrian troops captured a string of insurgent-held villages, moving to only three kilometres from the key town of Khan Sheikhoun after capturing five villages overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Khan Sheikhoun is on a motorway that runs through Idlib, connecting government-held Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo, which was retaken by loyalists from rebels in December 2016.

“The aim of the advance is to surround Khan Sheikhoun and reach the highway,” Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman told Agence France-Presse.

The advance towards Khan Sheikhoun also threatens to encircle the last remaining pocket of rebel-held territory in neighbouring Hama province, including the towns of Morek, Kafr Zeita and Latamneh.

Government troops have been advancing in a pincer movement along the southern edges of Idlib, but rebels launched a counter-attack on the eastern pincer at the village of Sukeik, with dozens killed in the fighting, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

The National Army, a Turkey-backed rebel group, said it was joining forces with the National Liberation Front, another group supported by Ankara, to oppose the regime offensive.

“It was decided to start sending troops from the National Army starting tomorrow,” spokesman Maj Youssef Hamoud said.

While the National Liberation Front normally operates in Idlib, the National Army’s strongholds are located close to the Turkish frontier in an area north of Aleppo.

The most powerful group in Idlib is widely seen to be Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an extremist faction formerly linked to Al Qaeda.

Damascus has struggled to make any gains in the northwest region since launching an offensive in late April. But since the collapse of a brief ceasefire this month, it has managed to take several significant positions, including the town of Al Habeet.

There have been reports that Russia recently stepped up its involvement and even some reports that Hezbollah – one of the most powerful ground forces in the Syrian war – may be sending in fighters after initially saying it had been asked to stay away from the offensive.

The Syrian state news agency Sana confirmed a claim by the Hayat Tahrir that it had shot down a regime fighter plane near Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday. Sana said the jet was hit by an anti-aircraft missile while on a mission “to destroy the headquarters of the Nusra Front”, the former name of Hayat Tahrir. Sana said the pilot’s fate was unknown but the Observatory said a pilot who ejected from the plane had been captured.

Khan Sheikhoun, which has been in opposition hands since 2014, was hit by a sarin gas attack in 2017 that killed dozens of people. The attack prompted US President Donald Trump to order a missile strike against the Syrian airbase from where Washington said it had been launched.

An investigation by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the Syrian government was responsible for releasing sarin on the town on April 4, 2017. Damascus denies using such weapons.

Syrian rebels have shot down government planes on several occasions during the war that spiralled out of the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad in 2011. However, the regime’s control of the skies has been instrumental to the government’s survival and the air force has used indiscriminate bombing to prepare for ground operations.

The humanitarian adviser to the UN special envoy for Syria said the surge in violence in the north-west threatened the lives of millions.