BALADI NEWS
Fierce clashes between Russia-backed government forces and opposition factions have killed more than 100 combatants in northwestern Syria in the past 24 hours, a war monitor said on Friday.
The clashes on the edge of the rebels-controlled Idlib region have killed at least 53 regime loyalists along with 48 opposition fighters since Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The region has seen a spike in bombardment since late April, with regime forces seizing several towns on the region's southwestern flank.
Late Thursday, the opposition factions launched a counterattack against regime forces in the northwest of Hama province.
They have since seized the villages of Tal Maleh and Jibeen amid heavy clashes and airstrikes by regime and Russian forces, the Observatory said.
The area saw "the fiercest fighting since the start of the escalation in late April," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Idlib is supposed to be protected from a massive regime offensive by a September buffer zone deal signed between regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.
But it was never fully implemented, as rebels refused to withdraw from the planned demilitarised zone.
The regime and Russia have upped their bombardment of the region since late April, killing more than 300 civilians, according to the Observatory.
The United Nations say more than 270,000 people have fled their homes.
A total of 24 health facilities and 35 schools have been hit in the latest escalation, according to the UN's humanitarian office.
Analysts predict that Bashar al-Assad and his allies will continue to chip away at the area, but not unleash a major assault that would create chaos on Turkey's doorstep.
Source: Daily Mail Online.