Deadly clashes broke out Monday, February 3, between the Turkish army and the Syrian government forces in the region of Idlib, the last bastion of the rebellion under the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, which has become the scene of fighting of violence never seen before between Turkish and Syrian soldiers.
Forces loyal to Bashar Al-Assad, supported by the Russian air force, have been stepping up their attack on Idlib for months, threatened by a massive humanitarian disaster. The progression is in pincers, from the south of the province and from west of Aleppo.
Populated by 3 million people, many of them displaced from other regions of Syria to flee the violence of the regime and its Russian ally, the province is experiencing a large exodus of civilians towards the Turkish border, even though it is closed in two turns. .
The UN has estimated that around 390,000 people have been displaced there in the past two months – 315,000 in December 2019 and 75,000 in January. Humanitarian aid is scarce for these displaced persons, who are also deprived of medical aid, the health infrastructure having been systematically bombed by the Russian air force. According to the World Health Organization, 53 health facilities have stopped operating in northwestern Syria since the start of the year due to the attacks.
The violence escalated on Monday when deadly clashes broke out in Al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, between the pro-regime forces and Syrian deputies of the Turkish army.
Unprecedented, a dozen Syrian soldiers were killed in Idlib after a Turkish artillery attack on government army positions. Turkish Defense Minister Huluski Akar said that 76 "Regime members have been neutralized", while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in London but with numerous relays on the ground, estimated the number of dead on the Syrian side at thirteen.
The attack was a response by the Turks to artillery fire from the Syrian forces that killed eight Turkish soldiers a few hours earlier. According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the clashes started when the Syrian army attacked the Turkish forces sent in reinforcement in the city of Saraqeb, in the south-east of the province.
Ankara, who witnessed the capture of Maaret Al-Numan by Syrian forces on January 29 without flinching, seems reluctant to see Saraqeb suffer the same fate. As of January 30, Turkish armored units were deployed there.
