Russian fighter jets hit targets in Syria’s Idlib
Russian and Syrian jets resumed intensive strikes in Idlib and Hama on Sunday, residents and rescuers said, as Damascus stepped up its assault on the opposition's last major stronghold after a Russian-Iranian-Turkish summit failed to agree a ceasefire.
They said Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs - typically filled with high explosives and shrapnel - on al-Habeet and Abdin villages in southern Idlib and a string of other hamlets and villages in the area.
The Syrian army denies using barrel bombs. However, United Nations investigators have extensively documented their use by the army.
Russian jets were believed to have hit the nearby towns of Latamneh and Kafr Zeita in northern Hama in a succession of raids, an organisation which monitors air strikes in Syria and an opposition source said.
Damascus, backed by allies Russia and Iran, has been preparing a major assault to recover Idlib and adjacent areas of the northwest. The province is Syria's last major stronghold of active opposition to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian and Syrian warplanes have resumed their bombing campaign a day after a summit of the presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia on Friday failed to agree on a ceasefire that would forestall the offensive.
Turkey and Western powers have warned of a bloodbath if a major Russian-backed bombing campaign is launched in the heavily populated northwestern province that borders Turkey.
The United Nations also said it feared a full-scale offensive could cause a humanitarian catastrophe involving tens of thousands of civilians.
Former Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has ruled out a military victory by regime forces in Syria’s 7-year civil war, saying Russia will eventually realize it was mistaken in supporting the Bashar al-Assad regime.“The regime has no [enough] forces or military capability to take control of Idlib,” Hijab said in an interview with the Doha-based Al Jazeera television.“Everyone knows, even Assad himself and his top brass that they are under the protection and guardianship of Russian special forces,” he said.Hijab, a former opposition negotiator, said “signs of weakness are evident in the structure of the Syrian state”.“There is an outbreak of unacceptable and unreasonable practices such as areas in regime-held areas let alone tit-for-tat killings between militias and regime forces,” he said.He cited that more than 40 regime officers and members had been killed, but without giving a specific date for the killings."The regime is in the worst situation,” he said. “Russia is working to disband pro-regime militias.”"Russia will realize sooner or later that Assad does not deserve all this effort and support and that it has committed a mistake in supporting Assad,” Hijab said.“There is a whole series of failures and deterioration by the regime that cares about its own interests even at the expense of its own community and people."
Russia mistaken in backing Assad: Ex-Syria PM
An Assad regime helicopter dropped barrel bomb on a hospital in Syria's northwestern Idlib on Saturday, according to a local source.The attack left the hospital in Has village unusable, the source said on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.No casualties were reported, the source added.Seven civilians were killed and seven others injured in airstrikes carried out by Syrian regime forces and Russian warplanes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province earlier in the day, according to the White Helmets.At least 28 civilians have been killed and dozens injured in airstrikes and attacks by regime forces and Russian warplanes in Idlib and Hama since the beginning of this month, the group said.The Syrian regime has recently announced plans to launch a major military offensive in the area, which has long been controlled by various armed opposition groups.The UN warned earlier this week that such an offensive would lead to the "worst humanitarian catastrophe in the 21st century".A trilateral summit of the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran on Friday underlined that “there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict" and called for advancing the political process to reach a negotiated solution.
Assad regime attacks hospital in northwestern Idlib
So far the aerial strikes have not hit a major city in the province where over three million civilians, many displaced from other areas, have found refuge in the course of the conflict.
Russia says it avoids civilians and only targets radical al Qaeda-inspired groups but opposition sources and residents say most of the casualties in the last few days were civilians.
The opposition accuse Russia and its allies of striking at hospitals and civil defence centres to force the opposition to surrender in a repeat of earlier, large-scale military offensives.
A U.S.-based medical charity that operates in the provinces said three hospitals and two civil defence centres were bombed in the last two days, "leaving thousands with no access to medical care".
"It is distressing to see a rise in attacks on medical facilities...There are over three million civilians in this crowded area of Syria who are in a life-threatening situation," Ghanem Tayara, head of Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) said in a statement.
Five civilians were killed and seven others injured in airstrikes carried out by Syrian regime forces and Russian warplanes in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Saturday, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency.
Airstrikes kill five civilians in Syria’s Idlib