Syrian opposition downs Assad regime helicopter

Syrian opposition downs Assad regime helicopter

Opposition continues push to recapture areas lost to regime, allies' attacks on de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria

By Ashraf Musa, Muhammad Misto

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - Syrian opposition groups reported Tuesday that they downed a Syrian regime helicopter in the "de-escalation zone" in northwest Syria.

Opposition sources told Anadolu Agency that the helicopter was hit directly while flying over Al-Naiyrab village west of the town of Saraqib.

The helicopter was moving to target opposition positions amid an ongoing push to recapture Saraqib from regime forces, they said.

The Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies have continued intensified air and land attacks on civilian settlements in the de-escalation zone.

The regime managed to take control of wide areas in Idlib and is set to seize control of the strategic M5 highway that connects the capital Damascus to Aleppo, Syria's second-biggest city.

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, however, more than 1,800 civilians there have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces as the ceasefire continues to be violated.

Turkey announced on Jan. 10 that a new ceasefire in Idlib would start just after midnight on Jan. 12, but the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups continued their attacks.

More than 1.7 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the past year.

Turkey remains the country with the most refugees in the world, hosting more than 3.7 million migrants since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.


* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara

Kaynak:Source of News

This news has been read 279 times in total

ADD A COMMENT to TO THE NEWS
UYARI: Küfür, hakaret, rencide edici cümleler veya imalar, inançlara saldırı içeren, imla kuralları ile yazılmamış,
Türkçe karakter kullanılmayan ve büyük harflerle yazılmış yorumlar onaylanmamaktadır.
Previous and Next News