Idlib

Syrian opposition groups and human rights organizations responded with dismay and disbelief on Monday to the World Health Organization’s (W.H.O.) decision to elect the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Assad to a three-year seat on its Executive Board.

Aid agencies in war-torn northwestern Syria are moving to contain the outbreak of the Chinese coronavirus across the region amid growing fears that the large numbers of people and the ravaged health infrastructure make prevention an effectively impossible task. 

Just four per cent of the supposed refugees who have breached the Greek border in recent days are Syrians, according to the Greek government.

The Turkish president’s Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, has predicted that mass migration across the Greek border will change Europe’s governments, bring down their economies, and collapse the stock market.

The Greek government has released a video claiming Turkey is ferrying illegal migrants to Europe’s borders and arming them with tear gas.

Turkish forces in Syria shot down two Syrian warplanes and attacked an airport used by the Syrian regime on Sunday, while a Turkish drone strike struck a Syrian military convoy and purportedly killed 19 soldiers.

Violent clashes erupted on the European Union’s common external border over the weekend as Greek border guards tried to stop migrants promised they could travel to Europe by the Turkish president from entering.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country’s borders with Europe were open, as thousands of migrants gathered at the frontier with Greece.

An airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province on Thursday killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers and wounded numerous others. The attack was a serious escalation of hostilities and the worst loss of life for Turkish forces during their invasion of Syria. Both Syrian and Russian air forces were blamed for the attack, with Moscow on Friday claiming that Syrian planes carried out the bombing.

Turkey has announced it will open its borders to Syria and allow migrants to pass into Europe – as coronavirus cases in the Middle East rise.

The United Nations reported on Tuesday that a huge new wave of displaced civilians is pouring out of Syria’s Idlib province, driven out by intense Syrian and Russian military efforts to crush the last rebel forces and increasing tensions between Turkey and Syria. According to the U.N., the refugee situation in Idlib is the worst it has been since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and two Iraqi officials, an airstrike conducted by unidentified warplanes struck positions in Syria near the border with Iraq on Friday, killing eight members of an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia called the Imam Ali Brigades.

Syrians in the rebel-held city of Idlib celebrated the airstrike that killed the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Major General Qasem Soleimani on Friday, taking to the streets and even handing out sweets to mark the occasion. 

Ongoing Syrian regime efforts to push al-Qaeda-linked jihadis allied with Turkey-backed rebels out of the last opposition stronghold in Syria’s Idlib province is causing a humanitarian crisis, the Turkish president reportedly said Friday.

Russian and Syrian warplanes struck a Turkish convoy Monday allegedly carrying military supplies for Turkey-allied rebels who have joined forces with al-Qaeda-linked jihadis in Syria’s Idlib province, a monitor group reported.

Pope Francis has written a personal letter to Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad expressing his “deep concern over the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and especially for the tragic situation of the civilian population in Idlib,” according to papal spokesman Matteo Bruni.

The U.S. military on Sunday launched deadly airstrikes against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria, marking the first time in two years that American troops have targeted members affiliated with the international terrorist organization, which now controls more territory than any other jihadi group in the war-ravaged country.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday told Syria and Russia to stop “bombing the hell” out of Syria’s last jihadist stronghold Idlib.

Sky News on Tuesday reported seeing “first-hand evidence that hospitals in Idlib are being targeted by Syrian regime forces who also appear to be using banned cluster bombs as they ratchet up their bombardment of the last rebel stronghold in the country.”

Russia conceded on Wednesday that an al-Qaeda-linked group had nearly attained “full control” of Syria’s Idlib province despite a deal between Moscow and Turkey to push out and disarm the terrorists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet and discuss bilateral issues with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an October 27 summit in Istanbul on the war in Syria, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported Tuesday, citing a top Russian diplomat.

The highest-ranking military officer in the United States military met his Turkish counterpart in Washington, DC, this week to discuss security in Syria’s Manbij area as well as joint efforts to annihilate the resilient Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) presence in the region, the Pentagon announced.

Jihadis in Syria’s Idlib, a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists considered one of the international terrorist group’s most potent wings, reportedly failed to meet Monday’s deadline to pull out of a planned demilitarized zone in the country’s last rebel bastion as part of a Russian-Turkish agreement.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadis threatened to execute more than two dozen women and children it abducted in southwest Syria if dictator Bashar al-Assad does not stop his offensive against rebels in the region Friday.

Contents: As October 25 deadline approaches, Syria’s Idlib is set up for a classic Greek tragedy; Turkey and Russia reach an agreement to prevent the Idlib assault; The inevitable clash of the protagonists

Some experts believe the agreement between Turkey and Russia to establish a demilitarized zone in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province will delay rather than prevent a battle for control of the region, the Washington Post (WaPo) reported this week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly praised the agreement to establish a demilitarized zone in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib between Turkey and dictator Bashar al-Assad’s ally Russia as “a step toward peace” on Wednesday.

Turkey needs to deploy more troops to Syria’s Idlib province as part of its deal with dictator Bashar al-Assad’s ally Russia to establish a demilitarized zone in the region to separate rebel-held and regime-controlled areas, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared on Tuesday.

Contents: Turkey scores diplomatic victory, as Russia backs down from Idlib assault in Syria; The delusional terms of the Turkey-Russian Idlib agreement

Russia and Turkey reportedly agreed Monday to establish a demilitarized buffer zone in Syria’s Idlib province to keep forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces separate from rebel fighters in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his security council on Friday to discuss the impending invasion of Syria’s Idlib province.

A Syrian rebel commander revealed on Thursday his coalition is conducting large-scale military exercises alongside U.S. Marines in the backdrop of the expected invasion of Idlib, the nation’s last rebel stronghold.

Contents: Saudis in Yemen cut the supply routes from Hodeidah seaport to Sanaa; Turkey, desperate to stop Syrian Idlib offensive, is supplying weapons to rebels

A report published Thursday suggests Turkey is moving reinforcements into Syria’s Idlib province as it tries to forestall a major offensive by dictator Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.

AMMAN – Turkey has stepped up arms supplies to Syrian rebels to help them stave off an expected offensive by the Syrian army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies in the northwest near the Turkish frontier, rebel sources told Reuters.

United Nations war crimes investigators reported on Wednesday they have uncovered more evidence that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad used chlorine gas weapons against civilians on three occasions — one of them in the northwestern province of Idlib, where the U.N. fears Assad and his Russian allies will soon massacre civilians in a massive assault.