The Syrian army is expanding its control in the countryside of Idlib .. Russia announces a ceasefire starting today

The Syrian army continued its advance in Idlib countryside yesterday, and announced its control over two towns and five villages, while defectors from the Syrian army and residents said that the Syrian army and its ally Russian forces intensified their attack on the last major opposition stronghold with air raids and ground reinforcements including armed factions. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Syrian army will implement a unilateral ceasefire in the de-escalation areas in Idlib, starting today, the unique experience of coexistence between the Syrian army forces and the opposition factions that surrendered to them failed to establish security in the southern province of Daraa Bombings, assassinations and Arrests.

In detail, a Syrian military source said: “Our forces operating in the southern and southeastern Idlib countryside continued their qualitative operations. Until Friday morning, many towns, villages, farms, and hills were cleared of terrorism, and control of al-Khwain al-Kabir and Tal Ghubar was restored. Skiat, Tal Skiat, Altmana, Tal Turki, Tal Ali, Tal Tal Jafar, and farms Western and East.

The source added, "Our forces operating in that region are still pursuing their hostilities with great determination to eliminate takfiri terrorism wherever it exists on Syrian geography."

Syrian government forces are seeking to control the eastern Idlib countryside to secure the Aleppo-Hama road.

Defectors and residents said that the Syrian army and its allies were pushing into the area bordering Turkey, and took control of the town of al-Tamanah after earlier controlling the town of Khwain and the villages of Zarzour and al-Tamanea farms in southern Idlib.

The gains were the first since the alliance, which is fighting militants and key Turkish-backed opposition factions, seized a key opposition enclave in nearby Hama province last week.

Army and population defectors said the attack received reinforcements from Republican Guard units and factions backed by Iran.

"There are daily reinforcements coming to the Syrian army from the Iranians, Hezbollah and elite forces in the Fourth Division, with the participation of Russian special forces," Colonel Mustafa Bakour, the commander of the Army of Glory, told Reuters.

According to activists monitoring the movement of warplanes, high-flying aircraft, believed to be Russian, dropped bombs on the outskirts of the densely populated city of Idlib and the provincial capital.

The Russian Defense Ministry was quoted by TASS news agency as saying that the Syrian government forces will unilaterally cease fire in the de-escalation zone in Idlib this morning.

According to a statement issued by the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria that an agreement was reached «unilateral ceasefire by the Syrian government forces as of 6:00 on August 31», calling on armed groups in the region to abide by. The Russian ministry did not disclose the duration of the ceasefire.

Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed in 2017 to make Idlib a “de-escalation zone” to minimize hostilities, although the terms of the agreement have not been announced, nor does it include militant groups.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this month that Moscow was deploying military personnel on the ground in Idlib.

Western intelligence sources said Moscow had in the past few weeks sent more special forces that helped break months of stalemate on the frontlines, as armed factions stopped the army's advance.

Resistance of armed factions has been eroded by a relentless aerial bombardment of civilian areas since late April, which has destroyed dozens of hospitals, schools and civil defense centers, paralyzing life in opposition-held areas.

Moscow and Damascus deny targeting civilians, and say they are responding to armed attacks by HTS (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), the dominant force in Idlib.

Opposition sources say hundreds of soldiers from the Republican Guard, led by President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher al-Assad, have deployed along the fighting lines in southern Idlib.

A military dissident and two major opposition sources said the rapid progress in the past few weeks was due to a new line of Russian-backed troops.

"The Russians have now moved to rely on the elite forces and the Iranians in this campaign," Bakkor said, noting that this was a shift away from relying on the so-called "tiger forces", which were previously advancing most of the Syrian army's ground forces.

In Oslo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday that Russia had assured Ankara that its checkpoints in northwestern Syria would not be attacked.

Hundreds of Syrians, angry at Russian and Syrian shelling, protested near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, demanding Ankara intervene to stop the Moscow-backed attack. Witnesses said Turkish security forces used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who tried to cross the Turkish side of the border.

On the other hand, the unique experience of coexistence between the army and the opposition factions failed to establish security in the southern province of Daraa, which was the cradle of protests against the Syrian government. The army and the opposition factions agreed that the factions would hand over their heavy weapons, but a large number of its members remained in their areas, contrary to what happened in other areas recovered by the army. They kept light weapons, while the army did not deploy throughout the province, but the agreement failed to stabilize, as chaos spread further, and assassinations and bombings are increasing day by day.

In the summer of 2018, a few thousand opposition fighters and civilians left Daraa, which was sidelined by total destruction, in a refusal to compromise, but the bulk of the faction fighters agreed. In recent months, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented almost daily bombings or shootings against army forces, or assassinations of former loyalists or opponents, including more than 60 since June.

According to a UN report in May, "assassinations affect fighters who have agreed to a settlement or civilians who have returned to work for government institutions."

With the exception of a suicide attack that killed six soldiers in July, and was adopted by the organization «Daesh», no one has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks and assassinations. Despite this, some call it the "revolutionaries" or "popular resistance", in light of the security chaos due to "multiple control between the parties and the proliferation of weapons."