Idlib, last Syrian rebel stronghold

Province is strategically vital, sharing border with rebel backer Turkey

The northwestern Syrian province of Idlib is the last to remain mostly out of regime control after seven years of civil war.

It is to Idlib that the regime of Bashar Al Assad sends rebels or civilians evacuated from other opposition strongholds, retaken after devastating sieges.

The province is strategically important, sharing a border with rebel backer Turkey.

It is also adjacent to the coastal Syrian province of Latakia, a regime stronghold that is home to Al Assad’s clan.

Idlib city, the province’s capital, lies near the road linking Syria’s second city Aleppo to the capital Damascus.

The province counts 2.5 million inhabitants, including more than one million people displaced by fighting between the regime and rebels, or evacuated from areas recaptured by pro-regime forces.

Farming community

Before fighting broke out, the majority of Idlib’s inhabitants worked in agriculture, mainly growing cotton and cereals, or commuted to the neighbouring province of Aleppo.

In March 2015, a coalition of Islamist rebel groups including Ahrar Al Sham and extremists from the Al Qaidalinked Al Nusra Front, now known as the Fatah Al Sham Front, seized the Sunni-majority city.

Syrian warplanes, and later Russian jets, have repeatedly targeted cities and towns across the province.

Idlib province has been hit by several suspected chemical attacks.

On April 4, 2017, a sarin gas attack hit the town of Khan Shaikhun, killing at least 83 people according to the United Nations. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 87 died, including 30 children.

In October, the UN accused the regime of responsibility, a charge denied by Damascus.

Idlib province has been hit by several suspected chemical attacks. On April 4, 2017, a sarin gas attack hit the town of Khan Shaikhun, killing at least 83.

UN report

In 2016, a UN commission found helicopters from two regime-controlled airbases had dropped chlorine-filled barrel bombs on at least two Idlib villages, Talmenes and Sarmin, in 2014 and 2015.

In October, a report from the commission concluded that the army carried out a chemical attack, probably with chlorine, at Qmenas in 2015.

On February 4, 2018, at least 11 cases of suffocation were reported at Saraqeb, the Observatory said, quoting inhabitants and medical sources who spoke of a “toxic gas”.

Idlib province is largely controlled by the extremists alliance Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), led by Syria’s former Al Qaida affiliate. Major Islamist rebel groups are also present in the area.