Syria Regime Reroutes Forces from Idlib to Badia Desert in Clampdown on ISIS

Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Syria Regime Reroutes Forces from Idlib to Badia Desert in Clampdown on ISIS

Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

Syrian regime forces renewed shelling the southern parts of the northwestern governorate of Idlib, with reports citing fighters retreating from contact lines there to the Badia desert to fight ISIS with support from the Russian air force.

“On Thursday morning, rocket and artillery shells targeted areas in Ihsim, Al-Bara, Ibilin, Balshon, Jawsaf, Abdeta, Arnaba, Al-Fatirah Fleifel, Benin, and Sifwuhun in the southern Idlib countryside,” local sources told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Shelling on Abdeta resulted in the death of two combatants from the Turkey-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) factions.

Many injuries were also reported as witnessed said warplanes and reconnaissance aircraft flew over Zawiya Mountain, a highland region in Idlib.

Regime forces also targeted and destroyed a civilian car with a guided missile east of Al-Ziyadiya region in Al-Ghab Plain.

SOHR sources indicated that several regime rocket shells hit the vicinity of a Turkish outpost in the village of Sarjah at the base of Zawiya Mountain.

Turkish forces, accompanied by the Syrian opposition factions named “Al-Fateh al-Mubeen,” responded to the attack by targeting regime areas with dozens of rocket and artillery shells in Kafrnabel and other regions of the southern and eastern Idlib countryside.

Military sites held by regime forces and supporting militias near contact lines with armed Syrian opposition factions south of Idlib are witnessing withdrawal of heavy machinery and combatants, and their deployment in the Badia desert.

“Over the past two days, large numbers of regime forces were seen withdrawing, in addition to several military vehicles,” said Idlib-based activist Ahmed Qassem.

Qassem added that the forces redeployed along with vehicles equipped with medium and heavy machine guns.

According to a Syrian opposition source, three military regime columns were transported from areas near Maarat al-Numan and Saraqib, southeast of Idlib.

They were moved to the Salamiyah area, east of Hama governorate, the source revealed, adding that the columns include convoys with dozens of fighters onboard, tank carriers, and military vehicles.



52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday. Also, 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.