(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 40 prisoners have escaped from a jail run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib, local activists said Saturday.
About 40 detainees forced open the doors at Tharir al-Sham prison on Saturday and guards were unable to stop them. The jail housed rivals and ideology critics of the formerly known as Nusra Front.
More than half of Idlib province is controlled by Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, while Turkish-backed rebels hold much of the rest.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany on Saturday have called for a ceasefire around in Idlib to be preserved.
The four nations "stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire" according to a statement, read by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the end of a major summit in Istanbul.
Idlib has been a haven for tens of thousands of rebels and 2.3mn civilians who were forced to abandon their homes in other parts of western Syria that the regime and its foreign military allies have recaptured from rebels.
Zaman Al Wasl
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