Syrian army and Iranian-backed militias push towards eastern Hama

11/12/2017 13:09

        The Syrian army and Iranian-backed
        militias backed by Russian air power stepped up a military
        campaign against rebels in eastern Hama province in a push
        towards the rebel stronghold of Idlib province in northwestern
        Syria, rebels and witnesses said.
        
        They said dozens of aerial strikes believed to be conducted
        mainly by Russian jets in the last 48 hours hit opposition held
        villages and towns in the northeastern Hama countryside and the
        southern part of Idlib province.
        
        The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al Sham and some Free Syrian Army
        (FSA) rebel faction in control of these areas said they were
        sending reinforcements to seize back a string of villages in the
        northeastern Hama countryside, near the town of Rihjan, that the
        army had earlier announced were captured in heavy fighting.
        
        The army said the villages of Um Turayka, Bilil, and Rujum
        al Ahmar were seized, forcing the rebels to flee to areas close
        to the administrative boundaries of Idlib province.
        
        The Syrian army had lost the strategically located Idlib
        province to insurgents when the provincial capital fell to
        rebels in 2015. It has since become the only province that is
        fully under opposition control.
        
        The Syrian army's first goal was to retake strategic Abu al
        Dhour military airport, one of the largest airports in the north
        of the country that fell to rebels in 2015. It was heavily
        bombed on Sunday, a rebel source said.
        
        "The regime movements seek to besiege Idlib province with
        the help of Shi'ite militias fighting with them," said Colonel
        Mustafa Bakour, a commander in the Jaish al Izza rebel faction.
        
        Tahrir al Sham, which is spearheaded by the former al Qaeda
        branch in Syria, is the main rebel force in the province,
        raising fears among civilians and rebels alike that Moscow and
        the Syrian army and its allies would soon turn it into a major
        battlefield.
        
        The strategically located province that borders Turkey is
        part of the Russian-led de-escalation zones that seek to shore
        up ceasefires in western Syria.
        
        Idlib has been a haven for tens of thousands of rebels and
        civilians who were forced to abandon their homes in other parts
        of western Syria that the government and its foreign military
        allies have recaptured from rebels.
        
        It has already been the target of intensive strikes by the
        Russia and Syrian air forces in the past year that have killed
        thousands of civilians and destroyed hospitals and civil defense
        centers.
        
        Tahrir al Sham also repelled simultaneously an offensive by
        Islamic State militants who have been for the last few weeks
        pushing into the opposition-controlled territory to extend a
        small enclave they have in that area, among the few they retain
        across Syria.
        
        The ultra hardline militants also seized a string of
        villages that brought them within kilometres of Idlib province.
        
        The Russian and Syrian army advance towards Idlib is also
        piling pressure on Turkey which had since October begun a major
        military deployment in the province it considers within its
        sphere of influence.
        
        Ankara's intervention seeks to rein in Russian strikes and
        prevent Idlib from facing a similar fate to Mosul or Aleppo,
        according to a senior rebel commander briefed on Turkish policy.