Rebels form new coalition as Assad's forces eye Idlib

World
Europe

Rebel groups in Syria's Idlib province on Wednesday announced the formation of a new coalition, as President Bashar al-Assad looks to turn his sights on the northwestern region.

The National Liberation Front merges the alliance of Islamist heavyweights Ahrar al-Sham and Nureddine al-Zinki with four other rebel factions. The coalition, however, will not include Idlib's dominant force – the jihadist alliance of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by former Al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.

The alliance was announced Wednesday by Ahrar al-Sham and Nureddine al-Zinki, who are already merged under the name of the Syrian Liberation Front. One of the new coalition's objectives will be to "block all attempts” by the Syrian government forces to advance towards rebel areas, its spokesman Naji Abu Hazifa told AFP.

A general view taken with a drone shows the Clock Tower of the rebel-held Idlib city, Syria, on June 8, 2017. /VCG Photo

Strategically important Idlib province shares a border with Turkey and is adjacent to Latakia, the government’s stronghold on the Mediterranean. It is the last of four "de-escalation" zones agreed by world powers in 2017 where the rebels still have a major presence.

Rebels and their families bussed out of the other three zones, when they fell to the government control, were taken to Idlib, increasing its population to around 2.5 million people.

Rebels and their families arrive in a northern Syrian region under the control of rebel forces. /VCG Photo

In an interview last week with Russian media, President Assad said Idlib was the government's next priority. But on Tuesday Moscow, Assad’s strongest ally, ruled out the possibility of a major assault on the province. "There's currently no question and can be no question of an operation, of a major assault on Idlib," Russia's Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev said in remarks reported by Russian agencies.

In the battlefield of the southwestern country, the Syrian government forces reportedly took full control of the Yarmouk Basin on Tuesday. The basin borders Israel and Jordan and had been the last embattled pocket of the southwest after a sustained advance by Assad's forces into the longtime rebel stronghold.

6776km

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters