Russian Jets Pound Syria’s Idlib for Fourth Time in 2021

Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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Russian Jets Pound Syria’s Idlib for Fourth Time in 2021

Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Laying the foundation stone for a school in the name of a Turkish officer in northern Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Russian jets on Tuesday pounded Syrian opposition posts in the war-torn country’s northern Idlib province. The airstrikes targeted the town of Al-Bara, located in Idlib’s southern countryside, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based war monitor also confirmed that Russian warplanes remain scrambled across the targeted area’s sky.

On February 3, activists confirmed that Russian jets executed several airstrikes using high-explosive missiles on several positions nearby Armanaz town in the western countryside of Idlib. The attack injured several members of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Meanwhile, reconnaissance drones were seen flying over the area.

The recent Russian airstrikes follow a Tuesday attack staged by opposition factions from the “Manifest Victory” operation command center against Syrian regime forces in Jabal al-Zawya area in Idlib’s southern countryside.

Regime forces, for their part, shelled multiple areas south of Idlib city. Among the spots targeted were Al-Fatira, Safohin, Benin, Ruwayha, and the outskirts of al-Bara and Fulayfel.

According to the Observatory, no casualties were reported.

Observatory sources also documented renewed rocket attacks by regime forces in the early hours of Monday morning targeting opposition outposts in Al-Fatira, Safohin, Al-Bara, Kansafra, and Fulayfel in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Areas in northwestern areas of Hama province were also attacked by regime forces.

Accompanying the attacks, reconnaissance drones were seen flying over the Russian-Turkish de-escalation zone.

Field activist Suhaib Al-Idlibi confirmed Russian warplanes striking in the vicinity of the city of Al-Bara, south of Idlib.

Damage from the raids, according to Idlibi, was limited to material losses.

Another field activist, Omar Al-Mohammed, reported that regime forces shelled on Tuesday morning opposition-held areas east and south of Idlib. They mainly fired rounds of heavy artillery and rockets against the Deir Sinbul areas and the villages of Benin, Bzabour, and Shnan.

In Bzabour, a civilian was killed and devastating material damage was inflicted on locals.



EU Foreign Ministers to Tackle Syria Sanctions Relief at End of Month

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
TT

EU Foreign Ministers to Tackle Syria Sanctions Relief at End of Month

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani attends a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS

European foreign ministers will meet at the end of January to discuss the lifting of sanctions on Syria, the EU foreign policy chief said on Sunday in Riyadh ahead of a meeting of top Middle Eastern and Western diplomats and Syria's new foreign minister.

Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, said the foreign ministers would convene in Brussels on Jan. 27 in an effort to decide how the 27-nation bloc would relax sanctions on Syria, Reuters reported.

After 13 years of civil war, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in a lightning offensive by insurgent forces led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) a month ago. The group has since set up a caretaker government in Damascus.

Any European decision to ease sanctions would be conditional on the new Syrian administration's approach to governing, which must include "different groups" and women and "no radicalization", Kallas said, without elaborating.

"If we see the developments going to the right direction, we are ready to do the next steps...If we see that it's not going to the right direction, then we can also move back on this."