Idlib militants launch renewed attack on the Syrian regime, while civilians protest both

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Insurgents in Idlib launched a renewed offensive against encroaching regime forces Monday, breaking the brief respite brought about by a ceasefire put in place since March in the northwestern Syrian enclave after three months of deadly fighting.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) initiated the campaign against regime forces in the last remaining rebel stronghold in the country, capturing three positions and taking one prisoner, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported. 

At least 22 of HTS’ fighters and 19 of Assad’s were killed in Idlib’s Jabal al-Zawiya region, in the largest single day flare-up of fighting in weeks, monitors told Rudaw English.

On the same day, civilians in Idlib held protests rejecting the rule of both the Assad regime and of Islamist rebels who effectively govern the besieged enclave.

“Even in war time, when people must think about surviving, they must also think about their future and for people in Idlib it is very clear now they are against both HTS and Assad,” says Mohammed Neser, a native of the area and coordinator of the Civil Resistance Against Extremism in Syria project, an EU-funded initiative based in Germany. 

HTS is the main rebel opposition faction,currently dominating Idlib. An umbrella of anti-government rebel groups under the leadership of Mohammed Jolani, who founded the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda, HTS nominally cut ties with extremists in past years, but remains proscribed on international terror blacklists.

Protests against HTS are rare, but not unprecedented. Though the armed factions present themselves as the only thing standing between civilians and Assad’s forces, Idlib’s residents have held protests against HTS and other armed groups operating in the area.

“The situation under HTS is horrible and radical,” Neser told Rudaw English. “People openly speak about ‘the killing of the revolution by extremists’ and day by day people see that HTS are nothing else than a security branch of Assad,” he said in an interview via email.

SOHR, a UK-based war monitor said Monday’s fighting took place around the Jabal al-Zawiya region on the southern edge of Idlib, bordering Hama, an area which lies mostly under the control of Assad’s forces. 

In retaliation, more than 20 regime airstrikes signaled the renewal of hostilities, targeting three villages.

"The raid was the biggest attack by opposition forces against the regime since Turkey and Russia signed the deal on Idlib in March 2020," said Suhail al-Ghazi, a monitor and fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. "Those two attacks remain the biggest in northwest Syria since hostilities stopped in March. Opposition groups have announced [movements] in south Idlib and Kabane in the northern Latakia countryside, but they weren’t major attacks," al-Ghazi told Rudaw English via WhatsApp.

Russia also carried out airstrikes on Monday, killing at least three civilians, and injuring three others in the southern Idlib town of al-Muzarra, the Syrian Civil Defense reported.

Government forces launched a counter offensive under the cover of Russian airstrikes later Monday afternoon, regaining control of the villages of Fatatra and Manara that they had briefly lost earlier in the day.

Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, negotiated a ceasefire agreement in early March amid calls for a global reduction in hostilities by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres amid the coronavirus crisis. Backing directly-opposing parties to the conflict, Russia and Turkey both wield disproportionate power in the war-torn country.

Idlib is currently home to 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.

In March 2013 the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria reported that “civilian populations in restive areas across Idlib [continue] to suffer as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorists attempted to tighten their grip. In an effort to subjugate populations, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham increasingly took over activities aimed at regulating access to services.” 

Analysts say that HTS lacks popular support for many reasons, including repeated abuses against civilians that range from extracting taxes from the population, to the killing of protesters who speak out against their abuses. The UN inquiry documented the killing of one activist by HTS in March.

“There is also a very common perception that HTS is not serious about fighting the regime,” Syria analyst Elizabeth Tsurkov told Rudaw English in early May. “In addition, [it] is extracting high taxes from the population, something they cannot afford. The overwhelming majority live in abject poverty,” said Tsurkov, a researcher and fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Economic woes span all areas of a divided Syria, regardless of which party holds power. The country has seen soaring inflation in recent weeks, with the Syrian Pound (SP) dipping further into record lows with each passing day. 

For a second consecutive day, protesters poured onto the streets in the southern Syrian city of Suweida, chanting anti-government slogans and calling Assad’s departure. 

Although the official foreign exchange indices list the value at 700 SP to 1 US Dollar, the actual market value trading inside of Syria soared past 2,300 SP over the weekend, AFP reported.

Additional reporting by AFP and Associated Press

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