Syria: Attacks in Idlib force 47,000 to flee in 3 days

By Esref Musa and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - Some 47,000 civilians fled Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, over the last three days, a Syrian NGO said on Saturday.

According to Anadolu Agency correspondent on the ground, the Assad regime and its allies halted their airstrikes on Idlib.

However, the civilians continue to flee the region for areas close to the Turkey-Syria border, Mohammad Hallaj, director of Syria's Response Coordination Group told Anadolu Agency.

He said if the attacks resume, a new migration flow from the Jebel ez-Zawiyah region in southern Idlib is feared to emerge, which will raise the number of displaced in the last two months to half a million.

On Dec. 20, the Assad regime and its allies launched a military campaign mainly in the cities of Maarat Al-Numan and Saraqib as well as the surrounding rural areas, capturing 35 residential areas.

The airstrikes on the region halted following the Moscow visit of a Turkish delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal on Dec. 23.

The number of civilians who fled Idlib since November has reached 264,000, according to the Syrian NGO’s figures.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Since then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

Over a million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to the intense attacks in 2019.

According to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the Idlib province is home to around three million civilians, 75% of them women and children.

Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million Syrians who fled their country, making Turkey the world’s top refugee-hosting country.

Ankara has so far spent $40 billion for the refugees, according to official figures.