ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrians fleeing regime-rebel clashes in northwestern Syria are able to flee to areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), its commander said on Friday. The statement follows the displacement of over 235,000 people in two weeks of intense fighting in the final rebel stronghold, according to a UN report.
“Our doors are open to our people from Idlib,” Mazloum Abdi commander of the multi-ethnic SDF said in a tweet. “They can coordinate with our military personnel who have origins in Idlib and are affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces to come to our areas.”
Idlib, the last rebel bastion, has been under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate group, since 2017. It is currently home to at least three million people, many of whom have already been displaced from other parts of the country.
Russian aircraft-backed regime forces launched an operation in mid-December to take the province, so far seizing control of tens of towns and villages. Advances made by regime loyalists in Idlib have brought them to less than four kilometers away from Maaret al-Numan, one of the rebel bastion’s largest urban centres.
Damascus, which lost control of swathes of territory it used to hold due to civil war that began in 2011 and Islamic State (ISIS) offensive in 2014, has now regained control of about 70 percent of the country. It has also deployed troops to Kurdish-held areas to prevent further Turkish invasion, as requested by the SDF.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) on Friday published photos of protesters in Idlib demonstrating against the clashes between the regime and the jihadists.
According to Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA), more than 1,300 civilians have been killed since September 2018, when an agreement between Turkey and Russia to turn Idlib into a buffer zone was made but not implemented.
The SDF controls most of the predominantly Kurdish northeast Syria, known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) or Rojava. Hundreds of thousands of the area’s current inhabitants have been displaced from elsewhere in northern Syria, having fled in the wake of Operation Peace Spring, launched by Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies against the SDF on October 9.
At least 235,000 people have been displaced in northwestern Syria in just two weeks, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report published on Friday. They are seeking safety in other parts of the province or other opposition-held areas including Afrin and Azaz, in the north of Aleppo governorate.
Displaced people have been met with especially treacherous journeys and conditions, OCHA warned in its report.
“A volatile security situation along the access routes north and the shortage of fuel in Idlib area are limiting the movement of civilians fleeing the hostilities,” the report said. “Displacement during winter is further exacerbating the vulnerability of those affected. Many who fled are in urgent need of humanitarian support, particularly shelter, food, health, non-food and winterization assistance.”
Difficulties are set to be exacerbated by Russia and China’s veto of Resolution 2449 – meant to ensure the safe access of humanitarian aid for Syrians - during a UN Security Council meeting last Friday, alarming international organizations whose work has benefited from the resolution since 2014.
Syrian civil rescue group The White Helmets has said it is preparing space for those fleeing Idlib to the once Kurdish-majority city of Afrin, captured by Turkey and its Syrian proxies from the SDF in March 2018.
“Our teams in Afrin and northern Aleppo continue to provide for the people, like widening roads and removing rubbles from them, cleaning houses to receive displaced families from Idlib, clearing sewage channels and responding to the traffic accidents,” read the tweet.
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