Idlib, Syria — Syrian authorities forces and Russia have stepped up the bombardment of northwest Syria, killing dozens of individuals, together with youngsters, and wounding lots of of others, opposition leaders and emergency volunteers have stated, at a time when Israel’s warfare on Gaza is holding the world’s consideration.
Russian and Syrian assaults in October targeted on cities and villages within the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo. This escalation resulted within the complete deaths of 66 civilians, together with 23 youngsters and 13 girls, and left greater than 270 individuals injured, with 79 youngsters and 47 girls among the many casualties, in keeping with a Syrian volunteer emergency rescue group.
Whereas the tempo of aerial and artillery bombardment in northwest Syria has decreased because the starting of November, Syrian regime forces have shifted their consideration to focusing on civilian autos utilizing guided missiles.
Syrian Civil Defence, often known as the White Helmets, stated that from the start of the present yr till November 8, their groups responded to 17 guided-missile assaults by regime forces. These assaults resulted within the deaths of 4 civilians, together with a White Helmets volunteer, and injured 15 civilians, together with two youngsters.
Idlib is the final province managed by opposition fighters in Syria, ruled by a ceasefire settlement between Turkey and Russia since March 5, 2020. Nevertheless, this settlement is sometimes violated by Syrian authorities forces.
“The military escalation by al-Assad regime, the Russians, and the Iranians against civilians in northern Syria has not stopped for a single day, but it intensifies and weakens from time to time based on international, regional, and local circumstances,” stated Mustafa al-Bakour, a pacesetter in Syrian opposition factions in northwest Syria, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Bakour advised Al Jazeera that Russia and the Syrian regime exploited the world’s preoccupation with the war in Gaza to escalate in northwest Syria, aiming to exert stress on Turkey and Syrian opposition factions relating to points similar to opening the worldwide street between Syria and Turkey. The M4 and M5 are among the many most vital arteries for worldwide commerce in Syria, serving as a transportation hyperlink connecting the nation to Northern Europe, South Asia and the Arabian Gulf.
Based on the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the latest escalation has displaced over 120,000 civilians from their cities and villages to shelters and camps close to the Syrian-Turkish border.
“Based on the facts on the ground, I do not believe the conditions are suitable now or even in the near future for any military action by either side,” stated al-Bakour. “However, I am not ruling out the continuation of shelling operations by al-Assad and Russian forces on civilians in northern liberated Syria.”
On November 6, the Russian information company Interfax quoted Admiral Vadim Kulit, the deputy director of the Russian Heart for Reconciliation in Syria, saying that Russian air forces carried out airstrikes on a drone warehouse in Idlib province, which was purportedly used for assaults on Syrian government-controlled websites. Al-Bakour denied to Al Jazeera the Russian claims of Syrian opposition factions possessing drones.
Navy bases and strategic beneficial properties
Since its army intervention in Syria in 2015, Russia has sought to ascertain quite a few army bases on its ally’s territory, together with the Hmeimim Air Base within the Latakia countryside, in addition to a naval base in Tartus, the one Russian deployment level within the Mediterranean.
“Russian intervention in Syria was not out of love for Bashar al-Assad’s regime but to gain strategic assets that were previously beyond Russia’s reach, such as military presence in the Middle East and, especially, obtaining a naval base in the Mediterranean to monitor NATO forces’ movements,” stated Turki Mustafa, an Idlib-based political analyst and historian.
Mustafa advised Al Jazeera that Russia persistently claims, when bombing cities and villages in northwest Syria, to be preventing “terrorism”, however in actuality, it goals to attract consideration to itself as a key regional and worldwide participant, even on the expense of civilians. “I rule out Russia launching a ground military campaign in northwest Syria, given Moscow’s need for Ankara and its strategic role in several files, most notably the Ukrainian file,” stated Mustafa.
The Syrian Community for Human Rights has documented the killing of about 7,000 civilians, together with 2,046 youngsters and 978 girls, by Russian forces alone because the begin of its army intervention in Syria to assist al-Assad regime eight years in the past.
