Leaflets dropped over Idlib by Syrian army call for reconciliation

The Syrian army's leaflets promised the war "is close to an end" and called for Idlib residents to join in reconciliation "as our people did in other parts of Syria"
Thursday, 09 August 2018 21:56

The Syrian army dropped leaflets over Idlib province on Thursday, urging people in part of the last big swathe of territory still held by jihadist to agree to a return of state rule, telling them the seven-year war was nearing its end.

The province is the largest chunk of territory still in jihadist hands, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned it would be his next priority. Idlib lies along the border with Turkey but is otherwise nearly completely surrounded by government-held territory.

Around 60 percent of it is now held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is led by Al-Qaeda's 'former' Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra. Turkish AKP government's troops had been provided an armed escort into Idlib by none other than the jihadist HTS in 2017. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said additional government forces were arriving for a possible attack in an area to the southwest of Idlib city that overlaps with Latakia and Hama provinces.

"The war is nearing an end... We are calling on you to join the local reconciliations, as many of our people in Syria did," said the leaflets, which were stamped with the military's seal.

U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday that Turkey, Russia and Iran had all agreed to "do their utmost to avoid" a battle in Idlib.

"This war must end not in a bloodbath but in agreements," he said. But he added that the U.N. was making preparations and that he would ask Turkey to keep its borders open for fleeing civilians.

"There is intensive diplomatic activity with Russia, Turkey, Iran, the Syrian government and armed opposition groups to avoid escalation in a de-escalation zone, but of course there is conflict every single day indeed there," he added.

Humanitarian organizations have shared the GPS coordinates of 235 sites, including the locations of medical facilities and schools, with the Russian, Turkish and U.S. militaries, in the hopes that warring parties would avoid targeting them in the eventuality of a battle, said Egeland.

Turkish AKP government, which has troops at 12 bases in Syria's northwest to observe a truce agreed with Russia and Iran, has warned against any offensive in Idlib, and is pressing Russia to make sure this doesn't happen.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Ankara on August 13-14 and meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. According to the spokeswoman, the two ministers will discuss the situation in Syria, bilateral economic ties and schedule for the upcoming meetings at various levels.

On August 4, the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that militants from Al-Nusra Front had rejected Turkey's demand for dissolution of the terrorist group's units in Idlib province in Syria's northwest. The developments came after Ankara demanded that al-Nusra Front militants join the so-called "Northern Syrian Army," which is being formed by the Turkish military.