With ISIS virtually defeated in eastern Syria, the Syrian military and its allies have shifted their military focus to the northern Idlib Province and the surrounding area, the last stronghold of other Islamist rebels, including al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
Syrian forces have managed to push the rebels out of their last strongholds in Hama Province and toward the Idlib frontier, with expectations that they’ll attempt to push into the province next.
Throughout the past year, evacuation deals for various rebel factions have seen them relocated into Idlib Province, which has left the tiny province chock full of different militants. Keeping Idlib contained had long been the focus, but with all the other major targets taken, the Syrian military may finally decide it’s time to attack.
Idlib was long seen as virtually impregnable because of the large number of militants, but infighting among the factions in recent months have left formerly big groups like Nusra a lot weaker, and some areas a lot more exposed. If the offensive is successful, it might effectively destroy several rebel groups, or at least leave them landless.
As usual with this site, when the text says “rebels”, a careful reader will mentally insert “Al-Qaeda”.
Sputnik News reported Russian SF defeated a U.S. planned DAESH attack from the Idlib de-escalation zone back in September. It was a large attack directed at surrounding and likely capturing or killing Russian military police units, not Syrian forces.
“US Secret Services Initiate al-Nusra Front Attack in Syria’s Idlib – Russian MoD”, Se. 20, 2017, SputnikNews.com.
Any security deals made in Idlib have been off for some time.