Russia carries out first Syria strikes in three months
June 3, 2020
The strikes were carried out on Idlib province on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They were the first strikes to be conducted by Russian forces since the signing of a truce in March.
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Russian warplanes carried out the first airstrikes in three months in Syria's last remaining rebel stronghold, a war monitor said on Wednesday.
The Russian strikes on Tuesday evening and at dawn on Wednesday hit an area in northwestern Syria, where the boundaries of Hama, Idlib and Latakia provinces meet, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance (HTS), led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, still maintains a large presence in the area, the group added.
The strikes on and near Idlib province were the first to be conducted in the region by Russian planes since a truce ushered relative calm into the region in early March, the monitor said.
The truce, between Turkey and Russia, stopped a three-month air and ground campaign that saw hundreds killed and over 1 million displaced people fleeing to the Turkish border. About 840,000 of the million remain displaced, while around 120,000 have returned to their home communities since the truce came into force, according to the United Nations.
Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster
The Syrian army, supported by Russia, is bombing the northern region of Idlib. Refugees are streaming toward the Turkish border, fleeing the continued fighting. The United Nations has warned of an imminent "bloodbath."
Image: picture-alliance/AA/E. Hacioglu
On the run
Traffic is heavy on the roads heading north through the Idlib region toward the Turkish border. Soldiers of the Assad regime are advancing from the south and east, aided by their Russian and Iranian allies. Some Syrian rebel groups are supported by Turkey, which also has soldiers of its own in the region. But ordinary people just want to reach safety.
Image: Reuters7K. Ashawi
'Horror has multiplied'
Almost 1 million people have been displaced since December. According to UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, "the horror has multiplied" in the past two weeks. The front lines are closing in, triggering large movements of people in the space of just a few days. Assad wants to drive the civilian population out of Idlib province, and is moving to capture this last rebel stronghold.
Image: Reuters/K. Ashawi
Bombed to pieces
Maaret al-Numan and the surrounding area has been particularly badly hit by the attacks. The city has been bombed to pieces and is practically deserted. The important M5 highway runs through here, from Damascus via Aleppo to the Turkish border. Most of those fleeing are trying to make it to Turkey — but the border is closed.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. Said
Waiting at the border
Around 100 people, including 35 children, died in bombings in the first half of February alone, according to the United Nations, which has spoken of the "blatant disregard for the life and safety of civilians." This family fled to the Turkish border months ago. They're living in the Kafr Lusin refugee camp, holding on to the hope that Turkey will eventually let them in.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
500,000 children in need
Out of the almost 1 million people who have fled it's estimated that around half are children. Of the rest, the majority are women. There aren't enough shacks at the Turkish border to house them all, and many refugees are living in tents. Camps are often set up in haste and are severely overcrowded. People are sleeping in doorways and on pieces of cardboard, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Little food and medicine
Those who have been able to find a tent usually share it with about a dozen family members. Medicine is running out in many of the camps, and basic food and clothing is also becoming scarce. Doctors on the ground report that many children are suffering from malnutrition, and some are even dying of starvation. The cold is also taking its toll, and some people have already frozen to death.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Refuge in a school
Many children in the region can no longer go to school, so some school buildings have been repurposed. This school has been turned into a refugee shelter — sometimes, even the refugee camps are targeted in bombing raids.
Image: Getty Images/B. Kara
Trying to reach safety
The illegal route across the border to Turkey is costly; hardly anyone can afford it. Smugglers are charging people up to $2,000 (about €1,800). Those who do make the attempt are risking their lives: Turkish border guards have thermal imaging cameras to help them spot people trying to cross. Sometimes they shoot at refugees who try to climb over the wall.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Looking for dignity
The UN has said the situation in Idlib could be the greatest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century. No one knows whether or not there will be a ceasefire. The refugees don't care who puts an end to the war; they just want a life of safety and dignity, for themselves and for their children. A four-way summit between Turkey, Russia, France and Germany, planned for March 5, is now in jeopardy.
Image: Getty Images/B. Kara
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The truce, which coincided with the start of the coronavirus, had put a temporary stop to the airstrikes conducted by government forces and their Russian allies, which killed over 500 civilians in four months.
In recent days, both Turkey and Syria have been sending reinforcements to the region, and there have been repeated violations of the truce on the ground in recent weeks, according to the monitor.
The latest strikes were reportedly intended to push HTS and its allies away from the Sahl al-Ghab area in the north of Hama province, where government and Russian forces maintain a presence. They were additionally meant to push jihadists away from the key M4 highway, where Turkish and Russian forces often conduct joint patrols.
Multiple opposition activists also confirmed the claims of airstrikes. Idlib-based activist Taher al-Omar said Russian warplanes fired missiles that caused wide destruction, but gave no indication of casualties. Another activist, Hadi Abdullah, said Wednesday's strikes hit a mountain region in Latakia province on the edge of Idlib, and a power station on the northern edge of Hama province.
Nearly half of the three million people living in the Idlib region have been displaced from other parts of Syria recaptured by government forces.
The monitor group on Tuesday reported that the month of May saw the lowest civilian death toll, 71, since the start of the war in Syria, which has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced nearly half of the country's pre-war population since it began in 2011.