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Russia bombs areas of southern Idlib to evacuate inhabitants
Syrian and Russian planes continue their non-stop bombarding of the southern towns and villages of Idlib. Hundreds of civilians, including women and children have been killed in addition to the destruction of the infrastructure of these areas. Fleeing the shelling, residents were forced to head towards the camps and districts near the Turkish borders.
"The escalation of violence in southern Idlib by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally is due to their inability to penetrate the fronts of the opposition," commented military analyst Major General, Ahmad Rahal, in his interview with The Levant. “The relevant calm in Hama’s fronts and the powerless attempts of the regime to progress in those areas made warplanes assigned to shelling the densely populated cities in retaliation for their popular cohesion with the opposition factions which had advanced in several areas and inflicted heavy losses on the regime. Furthermore, the Russians failed in their plans to access to the towns characterized by their significant location on international routes such as Saraqqeb, Maara al-Nu'man, Jisr al-Shughur and Ariha.”
"The bombing of towns and villages of southern Idlib and the massacres against civilians in the areas of Maarra Hormah, Kafrnobbul, Muhambal, Khan Sheikhoun, Maara al-Nu'man, Jisr al-Shughur, Kafr Rumah and Ariha merely indicates weakness of the regime and Russia since these areas are free of military presence and there are only civilians,” added General Rahal. "According to the laws of international war, the bombing of civilians is prohibited even if the soldiers are present among them in order to secure their lives."
"The areas of Jabal al-Zawiyeh, Jabal Shahshabo, Hama countryside and Jisr al-Shughur are densely populated. Thus, Russia is operating through bombing and destruction in such areas to evacuate their inhabitants and push them towards the borders of Turkey.” Rahal explained. “That means huge human overcrowding in a small area, more than 4 million people mostly in the camps. Hence, reconciliation with the Syrian regime will be the only option, though a bitter one, for the displaced, but the insistence of the people to stay in their homes despite the bombing will stand against the implementation of the Russian plan.”
Mohammed Nour al-Ali, member of the civil defense, White Helmets, in Idlib stated, "Southern Idlib countryside is suffering bloody days as a result of the military campaign launched by the Syrian regime supported by the Russians since the beginning of April. Since then, warplanes have targeted markets, schools, bakeries and health facilities where the regime is demolishing any form of life in order to empty and destroy the area. "
Al-Ali added that the Russian aviation had recently started to follow the concept of double strike; air-strike a certain site and then re-bomb it after several minutes in order to inflict as many casualties as possible where civilians and rescue teams gather to help the wounded and injured. Consequently, dozens have fallen dead and wounded, including members of the civil defense, in the past few days.
Incident Response team in northern Syria has revealed the statistics of the third military campaign of the regime forces and Russia on the north-west of Syria since the signing of Sochi agreement. Records have stated that 1079 civilians including 294 children have been killed whereas 670,837 civilians have been displaced dince 2 February 2019 to 24 July 2019.
Statistics have estimated the cost of the initial losses at 466 million dollars while the number of targeted establishments amounted to 233 buildings, 36 villages in ruins, 58 displaced villages and 18 targeted humanitarian facilities.
The team pointed out the ongoing violations and hostilities practiced by the Syrian regime and the Russian ally against the civilians in the northern regions of Syria. The warplanes have continued to target areas in north-west Syria which led to dozens of civilian casualties and numerous physical damage in the targeted areas.
The United Nations has recently announced in a statement published on its official website that it had documented the deaths of more than 400 Syrian civilians in northwest Syria since the end of April. "The latest attacks in Idlib were the deadliest on urban areas over the past three months. "
On 17 September 2018, Turkey and Russia reached an agreement to establish a demilitarized zone between the Syrian regime and the opposition control areas in north-west Syria. However, the agreement witnessed several violations by the Syrian regime when three military operations took place in the region and peaked in February 2019. Regional and international warnings have risen over the escalating violence in the region which contains more than four million civilians among indigenous displaced civilians and other migrants from various Syrian provinces.
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