Eight ‘fighters’ are killed in Syria by Russian attacks
BEIRUT: According to a war monitor, eight fighters were killed on Monday in Russian airstrikes against a rebel base in northwest Syria, the last significant stronghold of armed opposition to President Bashar al Assad’s regime.
A large portion of the territory Damascus lost to rebel forces early on in the 12-year civil war has been reclaimed thanks to Moscow’s assistance since 2015, and Russian soldiers have repeatedly attacked the Idlib region.
Early on Monday, “Russian airplanes conducted airstrikes against a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) military base on the western outskirts of Idlib city. Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed that at least eight fighters had been killed.
The strikes also injured a number of other fighters, some of whom are in severe condition, according to the British monitor, which depends on a vast network of sources within Syria.
returning to the streets to protest poor living conditions
The militant group HTS, which is run by a former Al Qaeda branch from Syria, has taken control of large portions of the neighboring provinces of Idlib, Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo.
The militant group reportedly roped off the area after the strikes, which occurred just after midnight on Sunday (2100 GMT), according to a correspondent.
HTS often conducts lethal assaults on military and pro-government forces.
The Syrian defense ministry announced on Monday that its troops had shot down “three drones laden with explosives” used by “terrorist organizations.”
According to the Observatory, in the provinces of Idlib and Hama, the army shot down three spy drones.
unusual protests for days
Hundreds of protesters went to the streets once more on Monday in Sweida, a city in southern Syria, according to local media and an activist, as poor living circumstances fuel unrest in areas controlled by the regime.
After the government ended fuel subsidies last week, days of infrequent protests broke out in the south, striking a blow to Syrians already struggling under the severe economic toll that 12 years of conflict have imposed.
Videos taken on Monday in the city by the local news outlet Suwayda24 showed hundreds of protesters brandishing banners and yelling anti-government chants like “freedom” and “long live Syria, down with Assad.”
One activist in Sweida stated, under the condition of anonymity for security reasons, “We’ve had enough, the Syrian people are suffocating,” adding that hundreds had gathered to protest in the city.
According to the activist, the country has been afflicted by high inflation, growing living expenses, insecurity, and poverty, which have driven desperate Syrians onto the streets.
He pointed out that security officers have not yet used force against protesters.
“My only hope is that this movement will spread to other provinces and that our voices will be heard,” he declared.
More than 500,000 people have died and millions have been displaced as a result of the Syrian war, which started in 2011 as a result of Assad’s suppression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.
It turned into a bloody struggle that drew in foreign governments and insurgents from around the world.
The Druze minority’s home province of Sweida, which has largely escaped the worst of the civil war, saw a strike on Sunday over worsening living conditions and price increases.
Senior Druze religious figures have criticized the government and supported protesters, respectively. Images from Monday showed demonstrators lugging around local Druze sheikhs.
Security forces brutally suppressed a protest against worsening living conditions in Sweida in December, resulting in the deaths of one demonstrator and one police officer.
Dozens of people protested on Saturday in the Daraa province of southern Syria, with some waving the opposition flag and demanding that Assad step down.
The region, which served as the birthplace of the Syrian revolt, saw additional rallies on Sunday night, according to one activist. Under a ceasefire agreement sponsored by Russia, Daraa came back under regime control in 2018, and since then the city has been plagued by violence and appalling living conditions.
