Syria: Renewed raids on Idlib countryside and a quarter of a million displaced people within two weeks

Russia and the Syrian regime raided on Friday evening, in the vicinity of the city of Maarat al-Numan and the nearby towns in the northern Idlib countryside, after two days of calm. While the Al-Jazeera correspondent reported the continuous flow of displacement from the southern and eastern Idlib countryside towards the Syrian-Turkish border, the United Nations indicated that more than 235,000 people were displaced within two weeks from northwestern Syria due to the military escalation there.

Al-Jazeera correspondent explained that a large number of displaced families are out in the open, coinciding with rain, lower temperatures, and humanitarian aid stopping, adding that these families need all kinds of aid, especially tents and heating materials.

The news agency "Sham" quoted activists from Idlib as saying that Russian warplanes targeted the outskirts of the eastern city of Maarat al-Numan, and the regime's warplanes also attacked the international road near the city, coinciding with the takeoff of Russian warplanes and another helicopter and the bombing of the eastern Idlib countryside. The aerial bombardment coincided with heavy artillery and missile shelling targeting the city of Maarat al-Numan and the surrounding towns.

"war crimes"
For its part, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in its report issued on Friday that the violations practiced by Russia and the Syrian regime since December 15 in northwestern Syria constitute many of them as "war crimes".

The human rights report recorded the killing of 86 civilians - including 21 children and 18 women - in northwestern Syria, and the regime forces committing at least 6 massacres in which 42 civilians, including 10 children and 11 women, were killed, in addition to 4 massacres in which Russian forces killed 44 civilians, including 11 Children and 7 women.

According to the report, the Syrian regime's helicopter and combat aircraft dropped from December 15 to December 26 at least 248 barrel bombs in northwestern Syria.

He stated that the forces of Russia and the regime obstructed the movement of the displaced, as this was most of the time by targeting warplanes, the main roads crowded with vehicles carrying tens of thousands of people with machine guns.

The human rights report pointed out that the Russian and Syrian regime forces targeted the main roads that the IDPs take at least 9 times in the period covered by the report, in addition to documenting at least 3 incidents in which the Russian and regime forces attacked random tent gatherings sheltering the displaced.

A quarter of a million displaced people
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in a statement that between 12 and 25 December this year, more than 235,000 people were displaced from northwestern Syria, noting that many of them had fled from the city of Maarat al-Numan and villages and towns in its vicinity, all of which It has become "almost empty of civilians".

The report pointed out that some of the displaced who had fled to the area of ​​Saraqeb in the north had to flee again, in order to avoid the escalation that might affect them as well.

In a related context, local humanitarian relief organizations called on the international community to take immediate action to protect civilians in the eastern and southern Idlib countryside.

For his part, the head of the Syrian opposition negotiating body, Nasr Hariri, said in a press conference, commenting on the escalation in Idlib, that the Syrian regime and Russia are taking the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham as an argument for the continuation of military operations against the opposition's national army, and against civilians who refuse to rule the regime.

US President Donald Trump had warned Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime against killing civilians in Idlib governorate.

Trump said in a Twitter Tweet on Thursday that Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces were killing thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Governorate, or were on the way. He added that Turkey is working hard to stop this massacre.

The southern countryside of Idlib has been subjected to an escalation in the bombing launched by Syrian and Russian aircraft, coinciding with the progress of the regime forces on the ground against the opposition factions, particularly in the vicinity of the city of Maarat al-Numan, which is the second largest city of Idlib governorate.