Syrians braced for regime assault on Idlib

FRANCE has warned that a new humanitarian disaster is looming in the Syrian rebel-held region of Idlib, which is seen as the next possible target of the regime.

Jean-yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, said two million people were at risk, including hundreds of thousands of Syrians who fled from previously rebel-held areas now controlled by the regime.

Rebels, refugees and residents in Idlib are bracing themselves for an attack on the town after a senior adviser to the Iranian leader said on Friday the next front was to “liberate” Idlib now that Eastern Ghouta had fallen. “There is a risk of a new humanitarian disaster. Idlib’s fate must be settled by a political process, which includes disarming the militias,” Mr Le Drian said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, the French weekly.

Idlib is controlled by jihadists and Free Syrian Army rebels. Tahrir alsham, the former al-qaeda affiliate in Syria, is the most powerful force there. Last month, rebel fighters in Eastern Ghouta moved to Idlib with their families as part of an evacuation deal that was reached between the Russian army and two main rebel groups in the area.

In a video posted by the Turkeybased Qasioun news agency, residents in the Syrian town were mixed in their support of the Us-led strikes on Saturday. Some of those interviewed said the airstrikes would not be effective in stopping the regime and its allies from killing civilians by other means, including by barrel bombs and air strikes.

“I’m so sad to see another chemical attack, and we expect to see it happen again and again,” said Aya Fadl, who survived chemical attacks on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib last April that killed 18 members of her family.

She said she worried her family would have to move from Idlib as regime forces increased their bombing.

Mr Le Drian said the first step would be “to begin with a ceasefire that is really respected this time”.

He was referring to a 30-day ceasefire called by the UN in February to facilitate the delivery of aid, but was never implemented.