Syria

12 Jan 2019; MEMO: At least 17 civilians were killed in airstrikes Saturday by the Bashar al-Assad regime in northwestern Syria, said a local civil defense agency, Anadolu reports.

Regime warplanes have targeted Idlib’s city center, Maarrat al-Numan and Saraqib districts and 11 villages in the morning hours, said the White Helmets.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that it had agreed with Russia that a ceasefire will be implemented on Sunday in northwestern Syria’s Idlib region to stem the flow of civilians uprooted by the violence, Reuters reports.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled attacks in Idlib province toward the Turkish border in recent weeks, as towns and villages have been pounded by Russian jets and Syrian artillery since a renewed government assault last month.

09 Jan 2019; MEMO: More than 700,000 people have been displaced from Idlib governorate, northwestern Syria, over the past eight months as a result of the fighting between Syrian regime forces and opposition groups in the area.

UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria crisis, Mark Cutts, said in a statement on Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in Idlib is alarming where more than three million civilians “remain trapped in a war zone; the vast majority of them women and children”.

DAMASCUS, Jan 4 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, said that, his country will not forget the stance of Iranian Quds Force Leader, Qasem Soleimani, in supporting the Syrian army and defending Syria against terrorism.

Assad made the comments in a letter to Iranian top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following the assassination of the top military leader, Qasem Soleimani, on Thursday, by a U.S. strike.

“The Syrian people will not forget Soleimani and his standing by the side of Syrian army, defending Syria against terrorism and its backers,” Assad said.

03 Jan 2019; MEMO: The Wall Street Journal reported that about 10,000 children of Daesh fighters from nearly 40 countries are still stuck in camps in north-eastern Syria, amid dreadful humanitarian conditions.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The rebel groups have launched a counter-offensive on areas recently recaptured by the Syrian army in the southern countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria, a war monitor reported on Thursday.

The counter-offensive has flared on Thursday morning with rebels heavily shelling positions of the Syrian army in the areas of al-Tah and Jarjanaz in the southern countryside of Idlib, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

30 Dec 2019; MEMO: A number of Russian soldiers were badly beaten and airlifted to hospital after a fist-fight with American troops in Syria last week, it has been revealed. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the incident occurred on 25 December in the city of Tal Tamr in Al-Hasakah province in north-east Syria.

29 Dec 2019; MEMO: Turkey will definitely stay at its observation posts monitoring a cease-fire in northwestern Syria, and its soldiers there have orders to respond to any acts of hostility, said Turkey’s defense chief on Sunday, according a report by Anadolu Agency.

27 Dec 2019; MEMO: Syria is considering the possibility of filing an international lawsuit against the United States (US) over stealing local oil, the Syrian presidency’s political and media adviser announced yesterday.

Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen, Buthaina Shaaban accused the US of “plundering Syrian oil”, condemning the move.

Beirut, Dec 27 (AFP/PTI) More than 235,000 people have fled the Idlib region over the past two weeks, the UN said Friday, amid heightened regime and Russian attacks on Syria's last major opposition bastion.

The mass displacement between 12 and 25 December has left the violence-plagued Maaret al-Numan region in southern Idlib "almost empty", according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

AFP correspondents in the area have seen people fleeing in droves in recent days.