Syrian forces push into key town in nation’s last rebel-held region
BEIRUT — Syrian government troops are pushing into a strategic town in the country’s last rebel-held region, local witnesses and monitors said Tuesday, another milestone in a military campaign that has trapped about 3 million civilians in the area.
After Russian warplanes pounded it for hours overnight, Syrian government troops and allied militias appeared close to seizing the town, Khan Sheikhoun, which lies on an important transportation route in western Syria. Government control of the town would tighten the siege on Idlib province, which government forces have been assaulting since April.
Rebels retreated to the town’s outskirts Tuesday, though clashes continued. The main rebel group among the local fighters, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, portrayed the withdrawal as a “redeployment” and vowed to continue defending the town.
A fighter with the group, reached on WhatsApp, said the government had captured western and northern quarters of the town while rebels held the east and south.
Idlib province, which borders Turkey in northwestern Syria, is largely controlled by jihadi rebels, like those from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is affiliated with al-Qaida. But it is packed with some 3 million civilians from all over Syria, many of whom were bused there after refusing to reconcile with the government when it retook the areas where they lived before.
Now, with their last refuge in Syria under threat, it is unclear what will happen to them or where they can go.
The United Nations said last week that more than 500 civilians have been killed in the Idlib offensive and that more than 400,000 people have fled their homes. The rebels have also shelled government-held areas, killing civilians and forcing more than 10,000 to flee, the United Nations has said. A cease-fire in early August lasted just three days.
Civilians and opposition activists interviewed in Idlib in recent weeks said many people were sheltering in open fields or under trees, often without access to toilets. Turkey, which already hosts more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, has backed the rebels in the past but is not allowing displaced people to enter.
“The regime and Russia are not only using weapons and destruction, they are waging a psychological war against civilians,” Raed alSaleh, leader of the White Helmets, a volunteer civil defense and rescue group, said Monday. “They want to destroy all aspects of daily life so they break civilians’ resistance.”
Khan Sheikhoun sits by a highway running through western Syria that the government wants to control to open up trade and ease transportation through the area. Seizing the highway would, in turn, make it more difficult for the rebels to maneuver.
The town was the site of a chemical attack in 2017 that prompted President Donald Trump to order airstrikes on a Syrian government airfield.
The government advance there came a day after a Turkish military convoy moving through the area was hit by an airstrike. The Turkish Defense Ministry said Monday that the strike did not kill any of its forces but did kill three civilians and wounded 12 more.