ZCZC
BFF-30
SYRIA-CONFLICT-IDLIB LEAD
Intense fighting in Syria’s Idlib kills 39: monitor
BEIRUT, Jan 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Intense fighting between pro-government
forces and jihadist-led fighters in Syria’s Idlib province killed at least 39
fighters overnight, a war monitor said Thursday.
The violence, which saw air strikes, shelling and ground combat, further
buried a ceasefire announced by Russia on Sunday in Idlib, the last major
opposition bastion in the country.
Government and allied forces took two villages in their advance towards
the key town of Maaret al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said.
According to the Britain-based war monitor, the fighting flared late on
Wednesday in areas south of Maaret al-Numan, the key target of the Syrian
government’s latest military offensive.
At least 22 anti-government fighters were killed, most of them members of
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that includes fighters from the former Al-Qaeda
affiliate in Syria.
Seventeen government troops and allied militia were also killed in the
fighting, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory.
He added that government forces were now just seven kilometres (less than
five miles) from Maaret al-Numan, a town that was one of the bastions of the
uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Nearly nine years into the conflict, protests against the government are
still held in some of the province’s towns.
In the city of Idlib itself, 18 civilians were killed in air strikes on
Wednesday, shattering the truce brokered by Moscow and rebel backer Ankara.
The fighting has prompted hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their
homes in recent weeks, exposing them to a harsh winter.
BSS/AFP/FI/1428 hrs