The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

In numbers and statistics: “Putin – Erdogan” demilitarized area, between the Turkish “guarantor” and the Russian “guarantor”

The Turkish – Russian play continues within the so-called “Putin – Erdogan” area, which extends from the northeastern mountains of Latakia to the northwestern suburbs of Aleppo city, and passes through Hama and Idlib countryside, where after the Syrian regime was drained militarily through heavy casualties it suffered during the period from the end of April 2019, the date of the beginning of the most violent escalation within the area especially since the beginning of the battle of the 2 villages (Tal Meleh and al-Jabin) in the northwestern countryside of Hama, during which it lost hundreds of members in the journey of recovering them from the factions’ grip, despite the intense and violent firepower, the regime took nearly 2 months to restore them, after that the area witnessed the most prominent chapter in the play of the Turks and Russians, which is a ceasefire agreement in the area that took place on the 2nd of August 2019, and was as a new chance for the Syrian regime to prepare again after it was drained before, and once the Syrian regime gathered itself it took pretext in the jihadi groups and their fake shelling of Hmeimim airbase, and it ended the agreement truce on the afternoon of the 5th of August 2019, and started a large military operation with support from the Russian forces and warplanes and helicopters, in addition to ground support through thousands of shells and missiles, and of course, with blessing of the Turkish “guarantor”, which did not move a muscle against the massacres of the regime, the Russians, and regime’s advancement in the area.

Since the collapse of the ceasefire on the afternoon of the 5th of August until the 23rd of August 2019, the regime has been able to achieve rapid advancement on the ground manifested by its control of more than 35 cities, towns, villages and hills in the northern countryside of Hama and southern countryside of Idlib, and by this control; the regime forces have taken control of the entire northern countryside of Hama for the first time since 2012, after the withdrawal of factions and Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham from the area just before being completely besieged by the regime forces, in addition to regime forces’ control of strategic sites and points such as Damascus – Aleppo International highway, which passes through Khan Shaykhun city south of Idlib, while the regime forces were able to control only 25 areas in the countryside of Hama and Idlib since the beginning of the violent escalation at the end of April, until the 1st of August 2019 despite the hysterical air and ground bombardment and shelling.

The areas that the regime forces controlled after the collapse of the ceasefire are: al-Arba’in, al-Zakat, al-Sakhr, al-Jisat, al-Sayyad, al-Sayyad and its hill, Kafr Zita town and points west of it, al-Lataminah, al-Bwayda, M’aarkbeh, Latmin, and Lahaya in the northern countryside of Hama, and Khan Shaykhun city, Sukayk and its hill, Tar’ei and its hill, al-Hbit, Abedin, Mughr al-Hamam, Mughr al-Hanta, Kafr Ain, Tal Ass, Mdaya, al-Mardam, al-Mantar Farms, Kafridun, and al-Sabaghiyyeh in the southern countryside of Idlib, as well as several hills, farms, and other points in the area, while the areas that the regime forces controlled since the end of April 2019 until the first of August 2019 are: Qassabiyyeh, Hmirat, al-Hardana, al-Qaroutiyyah, and Qiratah, in addition to Qal’aat al-Madiq, al-Karakat, al-Twyna, Kafr Nabudah, al-Bana, Tal Osman, al-Mestriha, al-Sharia, Bab al-Taqa, al-Jabriya, Tal Hawash, al-Toba, Sheikh Idris, al-Muhajreen, al-Hamra, al-Hwaiz, Hasraya, Abu Ra’idah, and the areas of al-Aziziyah and al-Rai.

This control came after cover of heavy fire, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 18478 airstrikes targeted “Putin – Erdogan” area since the beginning of the heaviest escalation, they are: 8912 air raids carried out by regime’s warplanes, 5895 barrel bombs dropped by regime’s helicopter, and 3671 air raids carried out by the Russian “guarantor’s” warplanes, in addition to more than 76860 airstrikes by the regime forces as well as the thousands of missiles and shells launched by the factions and the jihadi groups on sites of the regime forces in the “de-escalation” area during the same period.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 3867 people, they were killed since the 30th of April 2019, the date of start of the most violent escalation in terms of aerial and ground bombardment, shelling, and targeting since Putin – Erdogan agreement, until the 25th of August 2019, and they are: 992 civilians including 245 children and 176 citizen women, and they are 216 including 43 children and 42 women, and 8 of the civil defense and 5 of the ambulance team were killed in Russian aerial bombardment on the countryside of Idlib and Hama, and 79 including 16 women and 13 children were killed in the fall of barrel bombs, and 507 including 142 children, 85 women, and 5 members of the rescue teams were killed in targeting by regime’s warplanes, also 110 people including 20 women and 21 children were killed in a ground shelling carried out by the regime forces, and 80 citizens including 26 children and 14 women were killed in shelling by the factions on al-Suqaylabiyah, Qamhana, Al-Rasif, Al-Aziziyah, Karnaz, Jurin, Al-Nairab Camp, neighborhoods in Aleppo city and its southern countryside, while at least 1550  fighters were killed in the Russian airstrikes and the regime’s aerial and ground shelling including 1028 of the Jihadis, in addition to killing of 1325 members of the regime forces in targeting and shelling by jihadi groups and factions.

These military operations have also forced more than 165000 Syrian civilians to displace from their areas in the southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib and the northern countryside of Hama, since the collapse of the ceasefire on the afternoon of Monday, the 5th of August 2019, while the total number of displaced people reached more than 715000 people since the end of April 2019.

It is worth mentioning that the area witnessed displacements within displacement, where people of several areas in Hama countryside and the southern countryside of Idlib were forced to displace to other places in the area, but then they were forced by the hysterical airstrikes by regime’s warplanes and the Russian warplanes to displace again into the unknown, this also comes in the light of practices of the war merchants in the northern countryside of Idlib, who are exploiting the current situation and raise the rental prices of houses to unbelievable prices, while the role of the Turkish “guarantor” is manifested by killing Syrians at its borders through bullets of the Jandarma, in addition to preventing families from entering the Syrian area of Afrin northwest of Aleppo.

the Syrian Observatory documented that 26 hospitals and health centers went out of service since the start of the most violent escalation by Russian strikes, and they are: Kafr Zita Hospital, Jesr al-Shughur Hospital, Kiwan Hospital in Kafr Owaid, al-Sham Central Hospitals, Kafr Nubl Surgical Hospital, al-Sayyidah Mariam, al-Khatib, the Orient in Kafr Nubl, Nabd al-Hayat Hospital in Hass, al-Maghara Hospital and Sham Hospital in al-Lataminah town, specialized Hospital in Hawash village, gynecological Hospital in Tremla, al-Amal Hospital in Kansafra, Hospital 112 in Qal’aat al-Madiq, al-Tah Hospital, in addition to destroying health centers in Kafer Nabudah, al-Hbit, al-Rakaya, Ma’aret Hurmah, Kafruma, al-Ghab al-Awsat Center, Khan Shaykhun and Hish, while the Syrian Observatory documented the use of internationally forbidden materials by the regime forces during their ground bombardment, which burned thousands of dunums within the southern and western agricultural lands of Khan Shaykhun city, al-Hbit, Abdeen, outskirts of Kafrsajna, Kafr Ain, and other areas within the southern sector of Idlib countryside, and Hersh al-Skibiyyeh, Tal Hadaya, and IKARDA in the southern countryside of Aleppo, in addition to al-Lataminah in the northern countryside of Hama, as well as the looting operations by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them in the areas they controlled through robbing houses, shops, and crops of civilians.

High-resolution link for the infographic of the outcome of military operations since the beginning of the most violent escalation ever within “Putin – Erdogan” demilitarized area.