Two months of intensive airstrikes by Syrian regime forces and their Russian allies, coupled with a fierce ground assault on opposition-controlled Idlib province, have killed hundreds of people and caused massive displacement while achieving little to no gain for regime leader Bashar Assad, said The Associated Press Saturday.
Despite the heavy bombardment, Assad's forces have been unable to make any significant advances against al-Qaida-linked militants and other extremist groups who dominate Idlib province, the last significant area held by opposition forces. Militant attacks have killed an average of more than a dozen soldiers and allied militiamen a day in recent weeks.
The struggling campaign underscores the limits of Syria's and Russia's airpower and inability to achieve a definitive victory in the country's long-running war, now in its eighth year.
With crucial military assistance from Russia and Iran, regime forces have in the past few years recovered most other opposition-held parts of the country with crushing offensives and long-running sieges. In each of those places, the opposition factions either surrendered or were forcibly exiled to Idlib, where they are now cornered with nowhere left to go. Bitter and desperate, they can only fight to the end.
Sam Heller, a Syria expert with the International Crisis Group who closely follows the situation in the opposition-controlled area, said, "Idlib's armed opposition may not be able to win an open battle for the northwest, but they can make a Syrian regime victory terribly costly, maybe intolerably so."
Politically, Idlib reflects the tug of war among international players supporting opposing sides of Syria's conflict, said the AP.
A ceasefire brokered last September by Russia, a key ally of Assad, and Turkey, which supports the opposition, collapsed on April 30 when the regime began its offensive following months of violations by both sides. Turkey, which hosts 3 million Syrian refugees, fears a full-blown regime offensive would cause a new wave of displaced people heading toward its border, but it has been unable — or some say, unwilling — to control the opposition in Idlib that it supports.
Crucially, Iran-backed fighters, including members of Lebanon's Hezbollah party whose participation has been key in previous battles, have not joined fight for Idlib, deeming the region a low priority, unlike more strategic areas bordering Iraq and Lebanon. Even Russia hasn't thrown all its weight into the fray and has continued to talk to Turkey about ways to reinstate the ceasefire.
Rather than a full-blown offensive to recover the province, which is packed with 3 million people, Assad's regime has for now restricted its assault to the edges of the province with the aim of reopening key highways crossing through opposition-held areas. But even that has proved futile as the opposition factions fight back aggressively.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, 2,443 people have been killed since April 30. They include 629 civilians, among them 159 children. The dead also include 869 pro-regime fighters and troops as well as 945 opposition fighters, according to the Observatory. Many more have been wounded and many villages destroyed, with the United Nations saying the fighting has displaced more than 330,000 from their homes. Many of them now live in overcrowded tents near the border with Turkey.
Spearheading the offensive on Idlib and northern parts of the central province of Hama is the regime’s elite Tiger Force led by Brig. Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, a Russian-backed Syrian officer who took credit for some of the biggest regime victories in the eight-year conflict, said the AP.
But he has not succeeded in breaking Idlib's defenses and remains deadlocked. According to opposition activists, elite forces from the Republican Guards and the Fourth Division led by Assad's younger brother, Maher, have recently started taking part in the offensive.
Opposition activists say regime forces and their Russian allies have been targeting schools and medical centers, reportedly killing 10 medical staff since the offensive began, to make it difficult for the local population to stay. The tactic has been used by regime elsewhere in Syria. Airstrikes have also targeted paramedics, killing four ambulance workers in recent weeks, activists say.
The Idlib offensive began with regime forces capturing more than a dozen villages, including Qalaat al-Madiq and Kfar Nabudah, which are considered the militants' first line of defense of Idlib. Since then, Kfar Nabudah has changed hands several times. Opposition factions later took regime forces by surprise by launching an offensive and opening another front, in which they succeeded in capturing the villages of Madraset al-Dahra, Tel Milh and Jubain. Repeated regime attacks to retake the area were unsuccessful.
Mohammed al-Ali, a journalist based in Idlib province, said that two months into the offensive the regime now only controls the village of Qassabiyeh in Idlib as well as some dozen villages in northern Hama province and the town of Qalaat al-Madiq.
Al-Ali said one of the opposition's biggest successes was opening the new front, in which they cut a main road linking the central city of Hama with regime-held villages on the edge of Idlib.
"The opposition's steadfastness and regime's heavy losses made them fail to achieve advances similar to those they did at the start," he said of the regime offensive. He said anti-tank missiles were key in slowing the regime's offensive.
The battle could last for months and claim more lives unless Turkey, Iran and Russia reach a new deal for the region similar to last year's ceasefire. The faltering offensive could encourage Russia to reach such a deal with Turkey.
Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Ankara is planning to host a summit between the leaders of the three nations in August to discuss Syria, mainly Idlib.
"The Syrian regime’s inability so far to make more headway in Idlib does not mean it cannot ultimately achieve victory nationwide," Heller, of Crisis Group, said. "It does show, however, that its military victory is contingent on politics that are bigger than just Syria."
