Rebel groups have indiscriminately shelled government-controlled towns, killing scores of civilians. However, it did not provide any details about its timeline and process. In August 2019, the UN announced an investigation into these airstrikes. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) shared the coordinates for these facilities with the United Nations, which in turn shared them with the warring parties in a bid to protect them and first responders. More worrisome, Russian and Syrian airstrikes have deliberately targeted vital civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. In the past three months, the Syrian regime and Russia’s indiscriminate bombardment has killed more than 500 civilians and injured thousands more. Nearly half of that population have been displaced from other parts of the country retaken by Assad, and roughly two-thirds depend on humanitarian assistance. Idlib’s civilian population has largely borne the brunt of this escalation. By late April 2019, the Sochi deal had collapsed in the face of the Syrian regime’s military escalation, supported by Russia. In the event, HTS refused to withdraw and instead reasserted its dominance over much of the northwest. It stipulated the withdrawal of opposition armed groups, including Hay’at Tahrir as-Sham (HTS)-a former al-Qaeda affiliate-from a 12-mile demilitarized zone along the front lines, and the opening of two major HTS-controlled routes-the M4 and M5 highways that cross Idlib-to traffic and trade. This attack had been forestalled in September 2018 by a deal reached in Sochi, Russia between Russia and Turkey. Now the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, has launched a brutal offensive to recapture this last opposition stronghold in what could prove to be one of the bloodiest chapters of the Syrian war. As President Bashar al-Assad and his allies retook a large swath of Syrian territory over the last few years, rebel-held Idlib province and its surroundings in northwest Syria became the refuge of last resort for nearly 3 million people.
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