Shells hit Idlib's Syria as rebels prepare for assault

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army on Wednesday bombarded the last stronghold of the active rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad when a war watchman said insurgents had blown up another bridge in anticipation of a coup. government offensive.

Damascus, backed by its Russian and Iranian allies, is preparing an attack to recover Idlib and adjacent areas in the northwest, and resumed airstrikes with Russia on Tuesday after weeks of ordeal.

The fate of Idlib now seems to be based on the results of the Tehran summit that took place on Friday between Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders – a meeting that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday's airstrikes targeted militants only and did not hit populated areas. The war observer of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said he killed 13 civilians, including children, but no fighters.

The ministry said it had targeted buildings used to store weapons and explosives, including a facility used to assemble explosive-filled drones that the rebels used to attack Russian planes stationed at Hmeymim Air Base. .

The Syrian media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that pro-government forces concentrated their shelling overnight on the western and southern edges of the rebel enclave.

The campaign around Jisr al-Shughour, to the west of the enclave, was also the main target of Tuesday's airstrikes, relief workers said, a rebel source and the British observatory.

Turkey, which has a limited military presence in observation posts it has erected along the front line between rebels and government forces, has reiterated its warnings against an offensive.

Its president, Tayyip Erdogan, was quoted by a Turkish newspaper as saying that an attack on Idlib would be "a serious massacre" and he hoped that the summit with the Russian and Iranian leaders on the subject would end on Friday.

Graphic on assault by phase: tmsnrt.rs/2NHAqh3

ALARM

The prospect of an offensive in Idlib has alarmed humanitarian agencies. The United Nations said that displaced people already accounted for about half of the 3 million people living in rebel-held areas in the north-west.

The human rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday in a statement that the lives of millions of people in Idlib were now in the hands of Russia, Turkey and Iran.

The rebel factions of Idlib are divided, with a jihadist alliance that includes the former Syrian official al-Qaeda affiliate that holds the most land. The Tahrir al-Sham alliance is designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations.

Russia has described Idlib as a "terror nest" and an "infernal abscess" that needs to be resolved. UN ambassador to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday urged Russia and Turkey to find a solution and avoid a bloodbath.

Several other factions of Idlib, some of which fought under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, have come together this year to form a new alliance backed by Turkey.

This group, known as the National Liberation Front, also owns several important areas in and around Idlib. On Wednesday, one of the factions, the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, destroyed a bridge on the west side of the enclave, the Observatory said.

Two other bridges were destroyed last week in anticipation of a government offensive, which, according to a source close to Damascus, would be ready and will take place in phases.