2 civilians killed, as many injured as Assad regime forces attack Syria’s Idlib

By Ahmet Karaahmet, Mehmet Burak Kocaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least two civilians were killed and as many were injured as the Bashar al-Assad regime forces attacked Syria’s Idlib, civil defense sources said on Saturday.

The Syrian army, stationed in the Saraqib district of Idlib, along with Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups launched an attack on the village of Sarmin using ground-to-ground weapons.

The injured were rushed to hospitals for treatment, according to the sources.

At an Astana meeting in 2017, Türkiye, Russia, and Iran decided to create four "de-escalation zones" in areas not under the control of the Assad regime. However, the regime forces, Iran-backed terrorists, and Russia continued the attacks and managed to capture three of the four zones and headed toward Idlib.

Although Türkiye reached an additional agreement with Russia in September 2018 to strengthen the cease-fire, the attacks intensified again in May 2019. The cease-fire, however, is largely preserved now after Türkiye and Russia reached a new agreement on March 5, 2020.

Approximately 2 million civilians fleeing the attacks during the 2017-2020 period had to migrate to regions close to the Turkish border.

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul