Idlib province

Turkish Soldier Killed in Rocket Attack During Fighting in Syria

A Turkish soldier was killed and five others wounded by rocket and mortar fire from militants in northwest Syria as Turkish forces continued to press their offensive in the Idlib area, Turkey’s military said on Tuesday.

It was the second attack in a week on Turkish soldiers trying to establish a position near the frontline between rebels and pro-Syrian government forces, under a deal with Russia and Iran aimed at reducing fighting in the area.
That deal largely collapsed in December when the Syrian army along with Iranian-backed militias and heavy Russian
air power launched a major offensive to take territory in Idlib province and surrounding areas.
Turkey said five soldiers were also wounded in Monday night’s attack and that Turkish forces responded with retaliatory fire. The armed forces did not specify who the militants behind the attack were. A civilian member of the Turkish contingent was also wounded, they said.
Turkey, which supported rebel fighters trying to overthrow Assad, has worked with Assad’s main international backers Russia and Iran in recent months to try to stem some of the bloodshed in Syria’s nearly seven-year-old civil war.
Iran urged Turkey on Monday to stop its two-week-old military offensive against the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria’s Afrin region, which neighbors Idlib.
“Turkey’s actions can bring back insecurity, instability and terrorism to Syria,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The situation in the area is getting more and tenser as the latest Turkish move puts them in close proximity to Syrian forces with their Iranian proxies less than five miles apart. Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes continue, despite them losing an aircraft to a surface to air missile.

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Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Syrian Rebels Counterattack Government Forces in Idlib Province

Syrian rebels have launched a counter-attack against government forces and their Iranian-backed allies in Idlib province. The fighting, which is raging right along the Turkish border is a source of rising tension for Turkey’s government.

Fighting raged in Idlib, where a government offensive helped by Iran-backed militia has gathered pace in the last two weeks, according to rebels and a military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is fighting on the Syrian government side.
Idlib province is the biggest chunk of Syria still held by rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, with a population swollen by Syrians who have fled government advances in other parts of the country. Assad has defeated rebels in many parts of western Syria with critical help from Russia and Iran.
The recent military escalation in western Syria has included an unprecedented attack by a squadron of drones on Russian military bases and has cast a shadow over Moscow’s efforts to convene a Syria peace congress later this month.
The Hezbollah media unit said the army and its allies were repelling a “fierce assault” by the Nusra Front, formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in the Syrian war, and factions linked to it.
Rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said in a statement they had set up a joint operations room to repel the offensive and take back areas seized by the government in northeastern Hama and southern Idlib.

The latest push by the army and its allies has the Turks irate since they have accused both Iran and Russia in going back on a de-escalation zone in Idlib.

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Reported Chemical Weapons Attack on Civilians in Syria

A suspected chemical weapons attack, reported to be Sarin gas has been alleged in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province held by rebels against the Assad regime. Either Syrian or Russian jets according to Syrian activist sources, dropped a bomb that has killed up to 58 civilians including 11 children on Tuesday.

This is worst attack of its kind during the bloody six-year war. It was also the third claim of a chemical attack in just the past week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, where Tuesday’s alleged chemical attack occurred.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin — also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred — said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.
The wounded have been “distributed around in rural Idlib,” he told The Associated Press by phone. “There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth.”
Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. “Chlorine gas doesn’t cause such convulsions,” he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.
Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.
He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.
He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

Idlib Province is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrian refugees and is controlled almost completely by rebels battling the Assad regime. The attack was carried out early in the morning, around 6:30 a.m. when many of the victims were asleep in bed.

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File Photo courtesy of BBC