Truce Holds in Syria's Idlib as Turkey Bolsters its Military Posts

The sun setting over the opposition-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, June 29, 2021. (AFP)
The sun setting over the opposition-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, June 29, 2021. (AFP)
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Truce Holds in Syria's Idlib as Turkey Bolsters its Military Posts

The sun setting over the opposition-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, June 29, 2021. (AFP)
The sun setting over the opposition-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, June 29, 2021. (AFP)

Saturday marked two years since the signing of the truce agreement between Turkey and Russia over Syria's northwestern Idlib province and some regions of the Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces.

The agreement allowed Turkey to bolster its military positions along over 78 posts. It has also deployed hundreds of heavy armored vehicles and thousands of troops.

In spite of the agreement, the past two years have witnessed violations of the truce in opposition-held regions by the regime and the Russian air force. Hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in the attacks and thousands of other fled to the Jabal al-Zawiya area in southern Idlib.

On March 5, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a ceasefire in Idlib to contain the fighting between the opposition and regime forces after the latter had carried out a wide-scale operation, backed by Russia, against Idlib.

The fighting at the time led to the displacement of nearly a million people from Idlib and the death of dozens. Turkey was forced to bring in more troops to contain the situation.

The de-escalation regions, as they are known, have witnessed relative calm in recent weeks. Russian jets rarely fly over the areas. The calm is welcome after two years of air strikes and attacks by the regime and its allied militias against the opposition. The attacks targeted vital facilities, including water pumping stations, medical centers and displacement camps.

Over 270 people, including 120 women and children, were killed in the unrest. Four massacres were reported in the Maarat Masrin and Ariha regions and the villages of Mashoun, Balshoun and Balyoun in Jabal al-Zawiya.

Idlib has in recent weeks witnessed military operations by the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS. Drone attacks targeted members of various extremist factions, including the Hurras al-Din group. Another notable attack led to the killing of ISIS leader Abdullah Qardash in Atmeh in northern Idlib in early February.

Amid the calm, the economy has slowly started to pick up. Administrations in Idlib have started to operate using the Turkish lira instead of the plummeting Syrian pound, demonstrating the extent of Ankara's influence.

The Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib has become the province's window to the world. Turkish commercial goods and food, new and used European and Asian cars and oil derivatives are all brought in from across the border into Idlib.

The local salvation government has recently approved several development and economic projects, including the establishment of a major industrial zone in Sarmada. Main highways have been widened between cities and operations at several vital facilities have resumed, providing new job opportunities for Syrians.



‘Our Children Are Dying Slowly’ Says Father Searching for Food in Gaza 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘Our Children Are Dying Slowly’ Says Father Searching for Food in Gaza 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Father of four Mahmoud al-Haw and other Palestinians crowd around a soup kitchen in war-ravaged Gaza, surging forward and frantically waving pots.

Small children, squashed at the front, are in tears. One of them holds up a plastic basin hoping for some ladles of soup. Haw pushes forward in the scrum until he receives his share.

Haw does this every day because he fears his children are starving. He sets out through the ruins of Jabalia in northern Gaza in search of food, waiting in panicked crowds for up to six hours to get barely enough to feed his family.

Some days he gets lucky and can find lentil soup. Other days he returns empty-handed.

"I have a sick daughter. I can't provide her with anything. There is no bread, there is nothing," said Haw, 39.

"I'm here since eight in the morning, just to get one plate for six people while it is not enough for one person."

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March, prompting international experts to warn of looming famine in the besieged enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

Some trucks were allowed to enter Gaza on Monday, after Israel agreed to allow limited humanitarian deliveries to resume following mounting international pressure. But by Tuesday night, the United Nations said no aid had been distributed.

And as well as aid shortages, fighting in Gaza has intensified. Last week the Israeli military announced the start of a major new operation against the Hamas group. Medics in the territory say Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days.

Israel's stepped-up campaign has strained its relations with much of the world. European countries including France, Germany and Britain have said the situation in Gaza is intolerable, and even the support of its closest ally, the United States, now appears to be wavering.

Israel denies that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. It has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Hamas from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so and accuses Israel of using starvation as a military tactic.

DAILY SEARCH FOR FOOD

Gazans like Haw, living in the epicenter of the war that is now in its 20th month, have no voice in the debate.

Haw's world consists of walking to food kitchens each day, through the destruction wrought by Israeli bombardments in the war that was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Even before the war - fought intensively around the family home in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City - Haw's family had its struggles. His niece, who lives with them, uses a wheelchair. His daughter has heart disease and bronchial asthma, he says.

Haw climbs the stairs to his one-room apartment, where his children wait, sitting on a mattress. There is no surprise about what he has brought home - soup again.

He puts the soup in small tin bowls and hands them to his four children and his brother's two children.

The children, quiet, eat slowly and carefully.

"Thank God, as you can see, this is breakfast, lunch and dinner, thank God," he said. The day before, he said, his family had had nothing to eat.

"I wish everyone would stand by us. Our children are dying slowly," said Haw.