Heavy fighting last week around northwestern Syria mostly died down by
Friday, but the Syrian government and al-Qaeda’s rebel faction have not
totally let the calm return, instead spending the weekend trading fire,
including airstrikes and rocket fire.
Syrian military forces, and Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes against the Idlib Prioince mostly over the weekend. At least 22 civilians were reported killed over the past few days, with 45 others wounded.
Exact figures on Idlib strikes are likely to be contested, as the White
Helmets have generally provided the tolls. The White Helmets are funded
by Western governments, and have historically not proven the most
reliable on death tolls.
On top of those killed in Idlib, al-Qaeda forces killed at least six civilians
in the city of Aleppo, firing rockets against the area. Officials
predicted that toll would rise, as the eight wounded include several
gravely wounded.
And Qatar is the paymaster of Al Jazeera as well as the rebels. Peter Ford estimates that Saudi Arabia only pays 10%, the rest, or almost all of it, is paid by Qatar.On issues like this one Al Jazeera cannot be relied upon at all.
Apart from that, it is not possible to retake Idlib with force without there being thousands of civilian casualties