Air raids target Syria rebel area

4 civilians die in Idlib strikes

Syrian government and Russian warplanes on Saturday targeted the southern edge of Idlib province in what activists described as the most intense airstrikes in weeks, ratcheting up military pressure on the densely populated rebel-held bastion.

More than 60 air raids killed at least four civilians in southern Idlib, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and rescue workers. The bombings also included indiscriminate barrel bombs, dropped from choppers, invariably blamed on the government.

Pro-government forces have massed on the edges of Idlib, wedged into Syria’s northwest along the Turkish border. Syrian and Russian officials — key allies in Syria’s long conflict — appear to be preparing for an all-out assault to retake the area for good.

But there are deep fears that an attempt to reclaim Idlib could touch off major bloodshed and a humanitarian crisis among the area’s 3 million civilians, half of them displaced from elsewhere in Syria.

The bombings, including shelling from government

areas, came a day after Iran and Russia backed a military campaign in the rebel-held area despite Turkey’s pleas for a cease-fire. Turkey has troops and 12 observation points that circle Idlib.

Turkey worries the violence could send hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing to its border. Russia is wary of being drawn deeper into a bloody battle as it tells international partners that Syria is stabilizing and open for reconstruction.

State-run Al-Ikhbariya TV said the government was retaliating against overnight shelling from rebel-held areas on a government town in Hama province, south of Idlib. The shelling late Friday in Mhradah killed nine civilians, according to state media outlets. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said government forces have shelled “terrorist” posts in northern Hama.

But the government and Russian raids targeted much of a rebel-held area in the southern edge of the rebel enclave that includes most of Idlib province and northern Hama province.

Al-Qaida-linked rebels control more than half of Idlib, and much of the Russian and Syrian government rhetoric has focused on a need to defeat the group.

It is also home to a Turkey-backed coalition known as the National Liberation Front, as well as civilians

who have left their previous homes instead of taking “reconciliation” agreements with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Many fear conscription or arrest.

The Britain-based Observatory reported 68 air raids and 19 barrel bombs dropped Saturday on several towns and villages in southwestern Idlib and Hama province. The area targeted over the past few days overlooks government-controlled territory.

The Observatory described the attacks on the rebel-held areas as the “most intense” since August and said they killed four people in Abdeen, west of Khan Sheikhoun town, including two children and a woman.

The raids forced schools to close in Khan Sheikhoun, a town under attack, according to the Observatory.

The White Helmets, a team of first responders, also reported on the four people killed in Abdeen. A video posted by the White Helmets from the town shows their rescuers pulling a woman who was still alive from under the rubble of a building, as other team members warn of government helicopters hovering above them.

The rescuers said another person was killed in Halba, a village farther north. The group said one of its already damaged centers had been hit in the wave of airstrikes.

In Hass, another village in central Idlib, a hospital was hit by the airstrikes, putting it out of service and injuring two of its staff members, according

to Coordinators of Response, volunteers operating in northern Syria. The group also said the airstrikes caused a limited amount of internal displacement, uprooting nearly 700 families from their homes in several parts of Idlib.

The Observatory said Saturday that some 2,000 people were on the move from areas being bombed, heading deeper into Idlib province.

The council at Morek, a town that serves as a crossing between Hama and Idlib, sent an urgent appeal, asking Turkey to intervene. “We need a quick solution or our town will burn!” the official pleaded in an audio recording aired on social media platforms.

SYRIA-KURDISH CLASHES

Separately, clashes broke out in eastern Syria in Qamishli, a town close to the border with Turkey, between government and Kurdish security members. The Observatory said the clashes left 10 government security personnel and seven Kurdish fighters dead.

The town is run by Kurdish-led administrators and forces, but Syrian government troops hold pockets of territory there, including the airport. Occasional clashes break out over turf control and authority, reflecting deepening political tension between the uneasy partners.

Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, said in a statement that a government patrol entered the areas controlled by the Kurdish militia

in Qamishli and began arresting civilians, then shot at a Kurdish checkpoint, sparking the gunbattle. The Asayish said seven of its members and 11 government personnel were killed.

Arin Sheikmos, a journalist and resident, said the government security troops carried out an arrest campaign in Kurdish-controlled areas, detaining people it accused of dodging military conscription. This prompted the clashes that lasted no more than 20 minutes, Sheikmos said.

There was no immediate comment on the clashes by the government.

The U.S.-backed Kurdish administration has recently begun talking with the Syrian government, seeking government recognition of its self-rule areas. But in recent days, the Damascus government announced that it will be holding local administration elections, including in Kurdish-ruled areas, undermining the negotiations with the Kurds and their proposal for self-rule.

The Kurdish-led administration controls nearly 30 percent of Syria, mostly in the northeastern part of the country, including some of Syria’s largest oil fields. Kurds seized the territories, with the backing of the U.S.-led coalition, after driving out Islamic State militants.