(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 20 regime troops, originally from Damascus suburbs, were killed in the ongoing offensive in northern Idlib province, sources told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday.
Most of the slain fighters were former rebels who agreed on regime reconciliation deal in April 2018.
Rebels have killed at least 90 Syrian regime forces and allied militants in two week ago in eastern Idlib, the spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said Thursday.
People of the capital’s eastern suburbs have rejected conscription calls but the reconciliation deals have imposed a new de-facto. They should join the army or they might face arrest by the military intelligence, activists say.
The regime army has sent out about 10,000 conscription calls to eastern Ghouta’s young men to perform the military service, despite some names belonging to people killed or displaced, according to the names listed by the General Conscription Department.
Since mid-December, Russian-backed regime forces have pressed with an assault on jihadists in southern Idlib, despite an August ceasefire deal and calls for a de-escalation from Turkey, France and the United Nations.
The increased airstrikes came as Russian-backed regime forces advance on the ground.
The mass displacement between 12 and 25 December has left the violence-plagued Maaret al-Numan region in southern Idlib "almost empty," the UN said in a statement.
They have since December 19 seized dozens of towns and villages from the jihadist amid clashes that have killed hundreds on both sides.
Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.
Zaman Al Wasl
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