Russian and regime bombardment have killed 14 people, including children, in Idlib province. German officials have called for the offensive to end, saying the humanitarian situation "is already catastrophic."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Alkharboutli
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At least 14 civilians have been killed in Syrian regime and Russian airstrikes targeting the northwest Idlib province, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Eight people were killed in the town of Sarmin — seven of which from the same family. The father watched as two of his children were pulled from the rubble.
"I wanted to get my family out this morning but my wife told me to go to work," he told Agence France-Presse on Sunday. "So I sent them a driver with a car to transport their things." However, shortly after a regime aircraft hit the house with a barrel bomb attack.
Four Turkish soldiers were also killed and nine were wounded in the attack, the Turkish defense ministry confirmed.
Turkish forces retaliated by destroying targets in the Idlib region, the ministry said in a statement, and accused Syrian forces of being aware of the positions of Turkish forces at the time of the initial attack.
Rescue workers tried to rescue survivors following Sunday's attackImage: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Alkharboutli
Idlib offensive
A Russian-backed regime offensive aimed at seizing one of the last bastions of resistance to Damascus has killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than 388,000 people in Idlib.
Over the past two years, thousands of hard-line rebels have been transferred from battlefronts in other parts of Syria to Idlib as part of government-backed ceasefire deals. Those transfers have consequently made Idlib the final bastion of opposition to President Bashar Assad, as well as a hotbed of extremist groups.
The US withdrawal of troops from Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria and the launch of the Turkish offensive have created a complicated web of actors, from Russia to Syrian government troops.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Staff Sgt. A. Goedl
US: Troop pullback
Over the past years, US troops have supported Kurdish fighters as they battled radical "Islamic State" (IS) militants to take back control of large areas of northern Syria. In what was seen as a surprising turnaround, US President Donald Trump announced in early October that he was withdrawing US troops from the region's border with Turkey. This pullback left a vacuum for others to act and react.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Staff Sgt. A. Goedl
Turkey: Anti-Kurdish offensive
Trump's troop withdrawal was a de-facto go-ahead for Turkey to launch an offensive into northeast Syria. The region is home to a largely autonomous Kurdish population and Kurdish militants known as the YPG, who are tied to an outlawed Kurdish party in Turkey. Turkey, who has faced a Kurdish insurgency, sees the Syrian Kurds as a threat to its security, hence the military action.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. Akif Parlak
Kurdish YPG: Fighting Turkish forces
The YPG was one of the US' main allies in the fight to drive out IS from north Syria, but since October it has been fighting the Turkish forces that crossed into Syria. The YPG lacks strong air capabilities and defenses, putting it at a decided disadvantage in comparison to the Turkish army.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Souleiman
SDF: Betrayed by the US
The YPG is the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which also includes Arab and Christian militias. The SDF, which fought IS, controls northeastern Syria and feels betrayed by the US pullback. It is now fighting Turkish troops and their allies. It has warned that the Turkish offensive could distract from making sure IS fighters do not renew their strength in Syria.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D. Souleiman
Syrian government army: Deal made
The relationship between Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops and the SDF is a tricky one that shifts between cooperation, live-and-let-live and skirmishes, depending on the current situation. After Turkey launched its offensive, the Kurds struck a deal with the government that saw Syrian troops mobilized to fight the Turkish forces, allowing them to enter a region they had ceded to the SDF.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Russia: Stepping up, stepping in
Russia has consistently backed the government of Syrian President Assad (L, with Putin in 2018) and assisted its forces. After US troops pulled out of the Kurdish areas, Russia moved its troops in to act as a buffer for Syrian government forces advancing towards the Turkish army. Moscow wants Syria to remain united and has accused the US of creating parallel structures in the Kurdish region.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Klimentyev
SNA: Turkey's Syrian allies
Turkey also has allies among Syrian fighters. The Syrian National Army (SNA), also known as the Free Syrian Army, is a Syrian rebel group that has fought against the SDF and Assad's government. Backed by Turkey, SNA fighters took part in previous Turkish offensives against Kurdish militias inside Syria. Currently, thousands of SNA fighters are fighting the YPG alongside Turkish forces.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/B. Kasim
IS: A renewed role?
One possible future actor is IS. While it was essentially defeated in March 2019, tens of thousands of its fighters and their families remain in prisons or guarded camps in the Kurdish area of the country. Nearly a thousand alone have already escaped from a camp that was caught in the fighting between Kurdish militias and Turkish forces. Should the situation grow more unstable, IS could regroup.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Alleruzzo
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Turkish maneuvers
Earlier Sunday, a Turkish military convoy comprising hundreds of vehicles crossed into Syria and deployed in Idlib and in neighboring Aleppo province.
Turkey — which opposes the Syrian regime — has refused to leave 12 observation outposts in Idlib, saying they are recognized by an agreement with Moscow.
However, the Syrian regime views the outposts with hostility, and in December surrounded one of them in a move that nearly opened a new front in the conflict.
More than 300,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since fighting erupted in 2011.
