Various parties and factions call for military readiness against government in Idlib
North-Press Agency
With the arrival of new Turkish convoys and continued Syrian government buildup in the southern and eastern Idlib countryside, on Saturday the opposition Syrian Shura Council (a unified civil administration associated with the Syrian Salvation Government) in Idlib, called the military groups to be prepared to launch military operations against government forces and its Russian backers.
The council, which was established in February 2019 and aims to establish a unified civil administration for the north, asked the groups to unite to protect their land and honor, considering that the battle with Russian occupation and its followers is without end.
Field sources told North-Press that on Sunday morning, Syrian government forces targeted the outskirts of Benin and Deir Sunbul in Zawiya Mountain to the south of Idlib, with artillery shelling accompanied by reconnaissance aircraft in the area.
On their social media accounts, opposition sources reported that yesterday evening, Saturday, significant military reinforcements from the Syrian government forces arrived to Kafr Nubul, Saraqeb and the Maarat al-Numan areas in conjunction with intensive flights by reconnaissance planes.
This was accompanied by the entry of a Turkish convoy via the Kafr Lossin crossing, including a number of military vehicles, to its observation points in Idlib.
The areas of Zawiya Mountain and al-Ghab plain in the southern Idlib countryside witnessed an intense flights of Russian military aircraft flying, while Syrian government forces in Latakia countryside shelled Kabana, al-Haddada, Marand, al-Kenda villages in west of Jesser al-Shugour as government forces targeted the outskirts of Benin village in Zawiya Mountain with tank shells.
In the meantime, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria announced that a number of Idlib towns and villages were bombed by armed opposition groups, targeting several towns in Idlib, including al-Dahr al-Kabir, al-Malaja, and Maarat Mukhs.
This comes in conjunction with the Russian Federation sending a batch of advanced and modernized Russian MiG-29 warplanes to government forces to begin the implementation of shifts in Syrian airspace on the first of next month, according to what the official Syrian government news agency SANA reported on Saturday.
The ceasefire agreement between Russia and Turkey has witnessed repeated violations since its start on the fifth of March, amid Turkey's continuous buildup of military reinforcements in its observation points, which reached about 38 in the de-escalation zone.
Residents' concerns regarding the return of escalation and battles has increased, especially as Russian-Turkish patrols have not been able to complete their full track on the Aleppo-Latakia (M4) highway, in addition to the continued influence of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkistan Islamic Party in the region, which is one of the disagreements between Russia and Turkey regarding the region's future.