Baladi - Agencies
Syrian rebels bracing for battle in northwest Syria are pinning their hopes on ally Turkey to intervene with Russia and prevent an all-out Syrian government offensive that could deal a final blow to their seven-year-long uprising.
Syria's Assad has massed his army and allied forces on the frontlines in the northwest and on Tuesday Russian planes joined his bombardment of rebels there, the prelude to a possible assault.
The fate of the insurgent stronghold in and around Idlib province now seems to rest on a summit meeting to be held in Tehran on Friday between the leaders of Assad’s supporters Russia and Iran, and the rebels’ ally Turkey.
“We realise the extent of vengeance and massacres that will befall us if they get our heads. They will slaughter us. The coming battle is to be or not to be,” said Mustafa Sejari, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander preparing for the offensive.
Backed by Russian air power, Assad has in recent years taken back one rebel enclave after another. Idlib and its surroundings are now the only significant area where they remain in active armed opposition to Damascus.
Rebels backed by Turkey also hold an adjacent zone in Syria along the border between the two countries where Ankara has helped them set up a local administration. But they have not fought Assad from there.
Source: Reuters.