Syria’s army said on Monday, August 5 it would resume operations against the Idlib region, just days after it agreed to a truce ending months of deadly bombardment.
“Armed terrorist groups, backed by Turkey, refused to abide by the ceasefire and launched many attacks on civilians in surrounding areas,” state news agency SANA reported the General Command of the Syrian Arab Army as saying, using the regime’s blanket term for jihadist groups and rebels.
“The armed forces will resume their military operations against terrorists,” it said, ending a truce in the northeastern province announced on August 1.
Syria and Russia have denied that they indiscriminately targets civilians in Idlib, but an air offensive has killed at least 400 people in the last three months and displaced over 400,000 others, according to the United Nations.
Idlib is controlled by a coalition of anti-Assad forces supported by the Turkish army, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance of jihadist groups, some of which have links to al-Qaeda.
Russia has played a pivotal role in propping up the Damascus government militarily since 2015 while attempting to position itself as the powerbroker in the multi-sided conflict.
With reporting from AFP
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