The truce did not last long in the Idleb region of Syria. After Moscow and Ankara announced a ceasefire last week, fighting has resumed, more intense than ever. Air strikes by Bashar al-Assad's regime on Tuesday flew over the region, hitting a market and a workshop area. At least 18 civilians, including two children, were killed, according to the OSDH.
During the night of Wednesday to Thursday, January 16, regime forces continued their fight against jihadist groups, still present in the region. Alternating air strikes, bombing and ground fighting, the regime and its allies have taken over two villages in their advance towards the strategic city of Maaret al-Noomane, stronghold of the anti-regime struggle. Forty people were killed in the fighting last night, including 17 regime soldiers and 22 rebels, estimates the OSDH.
"More than a hundred" air strikes since Sunday
Moscow, a great ally of the regime, had however announced on January 9 a truce for Idleb. Turkey, sponsor of certain rebel groups, had confirmed this initiative which is supposed to have started on Sunday. The OSDH however reported on Wednesday "more than a hundred strikes carried out by Syrian or Russian planes over the province of Idleb".
The regime says it is determined to reconquer the Idleb region, dominated by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS, ex-Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda). Between the end of April and the end of August, the regime supported by the Russian air force had already intensified its bombardments, the violence having killed nearly a thousand civilians in the sector, according to the OSDH. At the time already, Moscow had announced a cease-fire at the end of August, but that had not prevented the resumption of hostilities.
The conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011 with the suppression of pro-democracy protests by Damascus, has killed more than 380,000 people, including more than 115,000 civilians, and millions of displaced and refugees. Since December 1 in particular, nearly 350,000 people have fled their homes, mainly from the province of Idleb, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Agency (OCHA).
With AFP
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