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IDLIB, Syria (Reuters) – Hudhayfa al-Shahad tied a child a colorful paper cup filled with cotton and charcoal and squeezed a plastic bag around his head: an improvised gas mask.
A boy tries an improvised gas mask in Idlib, Syria, September 3, 2018. REUTERS / Khalil Ashawi
Civilians from Syria's last active opposition stronghold in President Bashar al-Assad's regime are preparing food and building shelters ahead of the planned military offensive.
They also trust the neighboring Turkish diplomacy to spare them from military action that could become a humanitarian catastrophe. [nL8N1VQ6IS]
"We are preparing what little we can: little primitive masks that we can put on our children's mouths in case we get hit by chemicals," Shahad, 20, said in his village south of Idlib . his pregnant wife, three children and about 15 other people.
His brother, Ahmed Abdulkarim al-Shahad, a 35-year-old construction worker, shows the cavernous space beneath a cool courtyard covered with vines that the family has dug and sheltered since 2012.
"The military preparations we saw are in full swing … As civilians, we started preparing the caves," he said, showing glass bottles of marinated vegetables stored on the wet walls of the caves.
About 3 million people live in the rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria, which includes most of Idlib province and small adjoining parts of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces.
About half of them fled the fighting or were transferred there by the government under capitulation agreements from other parts of Syria, while Assad regularly taken over the territory of the rebels.
In April last year, a government aircraft dropped sarin on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, killing more than 80 civilians, the US Commission of Inquiry said. He also said that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons, including chlorine, more than two dozen times during the war. [nL8N1LM66E]
Damascus and its ally, Russia, deny the accusations and say they do not engage in chemical warfare. The locals of Idlib are scared and Washington has warned Assad against the use of chemical weapons in any offensive, promising an answer when he did.
PROTECTION
Russia, an ally of Assad, resumed Tuesday the air strikes against insurgents in Idlib after weeks of bombing and bombing by pro-Syrian forces, prelude to a major offensive against the last great rebel enclave. [nL8N1VQ1TY]
But Turkey said it hoped a summit with Iranian and Russian leaders in Tehran on Friday would avert an offensive.
And some people who Reuters spoke to Idlib suspected that an offensive could be avoided.
"I do not believe that there will be an attack on Idlib. It's a media war, "said the 50-year-old construction worker, Jaafar Abu Ahmad, from a rural area near the city of Ma'arat al-Nuaman. "The great world powers have agreed on us and divided the earth".
Nevertheless, seven years of merciless warfare has taught Ahmad to prepare. Her family is currently expanding a wet dugout she has dug and sheltered from the strikes of the past five years, filling it with food.
"We dug the earth for two months without stopping, me, my wife and my children," he said. "This cave is now our protection. We have cleaned it recently after being neglected for a long time.
With bombings, airstrikes and speeches on an imminent offensive increasing, a number of local councils in Idlib met and asked Turkey for protection.
"For us, in the liberated areas, our only guarantor in the negotiations is our Turkish brothers," said Ahmad Shtaam al-Rashu, head of the local council of the village of Ma'shureen, 48 years old.
Turkey erected observation posts along the front lines between rebels and government forces, and Rashu said Turkey had told them that it was a sign of his commitment to protecting the locals d & # 39; Idlib.
Idlib is often described as the "last refuge" of rebels and displaced civilians, and any offensive threatens new displacement and human misery.
"Regarding the flight to the (Turkish) border, I do not think we will leave our homes. The bombing will take us. There is no place after Idlib, "said Ahmed al-Shahad.
"We will fight until the last man, we have no option."
Report by Khalil Ashawi in Syria; Lisa Barrington's writing in Beirut; Edited by Gareth Jones
