Artillery barrage kills dozens of regime forces in Idlib

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Turkish-backed rebels have killed at least 40 regime troops in Idlib and western Aleppo, sources said Monday.

The heavy Turkish artillery barrages and rebels rockets hit five army bastions near of al-Nayrab airbase east of Idlib,.

The fierce resistance was unable to halt the Russian-led regime offensive that has recaptured large tracts of territory.

The Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said on Monday that his offensive was not the end of Syria’s nine-year conflict.

But Assad, in an appearance televised by state media, vowed to continue the offensive until the “country is liberated” and that the gains achieved so far presaged the final defeat of the insurgency that sought to topple his rule.

The offensive has displaced 900,000 people since the start of December, and babies are dying of cold because aid camps are full, the UN said Monday.

That figure is 100,000 more than the United Nations had previously recorded.

"The crisis in northwest Syria has reached a horrifying new level," said Mark Lowcock, the UN head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief.

He said the displaced were overwhelmingly women and children who are "traumatized and forced to sleep outside in freezing temperatures because camps are full. Mothers burn plastic to keep children warm. Babies and small children are dying because of the cold."

The Idlib region, including parts of neighboring Aleppo province, is home to some three million people, half of them already displaced from other parts of the country.

Russian and Turkish delegations discussed Idlib's tense situation in Moscow on Monday.

The talks will also continue on Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the talks, stressing the necessity to rapidly reduce tensions and prevent further worsening of the humanitarian situation.

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal is leading Turkey's delegation at the closed-door meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, while Russia's Presidential Envoy for Syria Sergey Vershinin is heading the counterpart group.

Both delegations include diplomats, as well as representatives of military and intelligence services.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for Russia to end its support for the regime's "atrocities" in the Idlib region, the White House said.

(Zaman Al Wasl with Agencies)

Zaman Al Wasl