Rapid advances by the Syrian army into opposition rebels’ largest remaining stronghold, the Idlib Governatorate, have brought it closer to a key insurgent-held military airport and displaced tens of thousands of people struggling to find shelter in winter weather.
Supported by Iran-backed militias and Russian air power, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have taken territory in northeastern Hama and southern Idlib provinces since launching an offensive in late October.
The fighting and airstrikes have forced more than 60,000 people to leave their homes since Nov. 1, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Over the past few days the offensive has escalated, with forces progressing toward the strategic Abu al-Duhur military airport, to which rebels laid siege in 2012 before completely ousting al-Assad’s forces in September 2015.
A commander in a military alliance fighting in support of Damascus has said the army and its allies intend to capture the air base.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday said that the Syrian army and its allies had taken around 84 villages since Oct. 22, including at least 14 in the preceding 24 hours.
The Britain-based war monitor said that the rapid advance this week was made possible by intense airstrikes which caused rebels to withdraw.
The Syrian army lost the Idlib Governatorate, which borders Turkey, to insurgents when its capital, Idlib, fell to insurgents in 2015. It became the only governatorate fully under opposition control.
Tahrir al-Sham, which is spearheaded by al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria formerly called al-Nusra Front, is the main rebel force in the province.
A Syrian military source said that al-Nusra Front and its allies are the target of the military operation in northeast Hama and southeast Idlib governatorates.
“The army’s operations there are continuing and the army is achieving advances. The terrorists [are facing] big losses in the area,” he said.
Idlib is part of Russian-engineered “de-escalation zones” meant to reduce fighting in western Syria. Turkish troops are also present in northern Idlib under the de-escalation deal struck with al-Assad’s allies, Russia and Iran.
“De-escalation zones do not cover the al-Nusra Front at all, and the al-Nusra Front is in reality the one fully controlling Idlib,” the military source said.
Tahrir al-Sham is simultaneously under attack from the Islamic State group, which has been expanding a small pocket of territory in northeastern Hama on the edge of the Idlib enclave since the Syrian army ousted it from central Syria in October last year.
Mustafa al-Haj Yousef, head of Idlib’s Civil Defense rescuers, who work in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, said: “If martyrs, the displaced, the injured, are on the rise, collapsing the houses, striking civilians, targeting civilians? It’s as if there’s no de-escalation.”
The UN said the situation of civilians newly displaced by the fighting was “dire” and relief agencies struggled to meet their needs.
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