BALADI NEWS
69 fighters have been killed Sunday in the fierce clashes which took place in Idlib between the Assad regime forces and the opposition fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
At least 36 in the regime forces were among those killed.
Clouds of smoke rose over Maaret al-Numan city as warplanes pounded opposition fighters and allied rebels in positions they had recently recaptured from regime forces, AFP said.
The battles in the northwestern province of Idlib are “the most violent” there since a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement went into effect in late August, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of SOHR.
Residents of affected villages fled north to escape the fighting, adding to the hundreds of thousands who have already flooded out of the province’s violence-plagued south since fighting escalated earlier this year, AFP's report says.
“I don’t want to see my children trapped under rubble,” said one of those driven from his home, Hafez, who escaped the flashpoint area along with his wife and three kids two days earlier, according to AFP.
Assad has repeatedly vowed to reclaim all of Syria, including Idlib, which he views as a “terrorist” holdout.
In August, regime forces backed by Russian warplanes began a barbaric ground offensive that saw them retake several areas in southern Idlib, allowing them their first foothold in the region in years. Since then, dozens of civilians were killed, hundreds wounded, and many schools, hospitals and medical points were destroyed.