200 days of both president’s agreement claimed the lives of 261 civilians out of more than 530 killed within the buried-arms area and the 4 provinces
200 days of the demilitarized area agreement, which has been transformed into an area where the weapons are buried, at a time when terms of the agreement have not been met even 200 days after the agreement was reached, on the 17th of September 2018, between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since that date, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored significant casualties among civilians, fighters, and “jihadi” factions, which have not left the area, and the members of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, where the Syrian Observatory documented 532 at least, the number of people who were killed since Erdogan – Putin agreement, they are: 261 civilians including 96 children and 53 women, were killed in shelling by the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them, targeting, and bombardment by warplanes, and among them there are 13 people including 4 children were killed in the fall of shells launched by the factions, and 120 fighters were killed in deferent circumstances within the demilitarized area since Putin – Erdogan agreement, including 37 of the “Jihadi” fighters and 23 fighters of Jaysh al-Izza, who were killed in ambushes and clashes including a commander at least, they were killed in ambushes and attack by the regime forces in the northern countryside of Hama, and 151 members of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them.
truce have had various violations of varying violence monitored by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in a momentary and daily manner, while its guarantors sought to let their guarantees of stopping the shelling and hostilities, after which it was turned from a truce to reason to stop the military operation against Idlib Province, and the adjacent factions’ controlled areas, and then the agreement of the 17th of September 2018 between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to reinforce the truce through establishing a “demilitarized area”, stretches from the northern mountains of Latakia, passes through Sahl al-Ghab, and the western, eastern, southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib, the northern and northeastern country of Hama, and the southern suburbs of Aleppo until the northwest of Aleppo city and its suburbs, and the western part of the city.
The Russian – Turkish truce did not hold up, but rather Russian – Turkish polishing attempts, to show the “positive” role of both parties in promoting peace within Syrian territory and reducing violence, However, things changed from what they had imagined, where the jihadists who were given the deadline to leave on the 15th of October 2018 have not left, and instead of that they sought to impose their presence in the demilitarized area, of which they control more than 70% of it, and now they are imposing their presence and control over most of it, also they turned around the agreement of withdrawing the heavy weapons, through burying them in trenches set up within the demilitarized area. And after the agreement insisted on their departure; the 5th month of the Russian – Turkish truce agreement and the 3rd month of their deadline of their leave from the demilitarized area, witnessed the expansion of the “jihadi” groups, which includes thousands of non-Syrian national fighters, and the expansion came through an attack by Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham ended by imposing its control over about 9000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to about 4.8% of the Syrian territory, and the displacement of fighters of Ahrar Sham and the National Liberation Front towards Afrin area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored in the recent weeks the increase in pace of regime’s preparations to start the grand battle of Idlib, and the Syrian Observatory learned from intersected sources that the regime forces have mobilized the majority of their forces who fought previously against the factions and the “Islamic State” Organization, and moved them to the contact lines and clash fronts in the countryside of Idlib, Hama, Latakia, and Aleppo, in order to have the upper hand in the battle, for which they have mobilized more than 2000 armored vehicle so far, and called for tens of thousands of members of their forces and the gunmen loyal to them, in addition to summoning their officers and operation commanders, headed by the Brigadier General Suhail al-Hassan, known as the “al-Nemr” (the tiger), while the regime forces are following the tactic of scattered shelling, through moving the shelled area between the day and the other, and concentrating the shelling each time on an area without the other, to disperse fighters of the rebel and Islamic factions, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic Turkestani Party, and the factions operating in factions’ controlled areas north, east, and west of the contact line between the regime forces and the factions, extending from the northern mountains of Latakia to the southern countryside of Aleppo passing through Sahl al-Ghab and the eastern and southeastern countryside of Idlib, while areas controlled by the rebel and Islamic factions, the National Liberation Front, Islamic Turkestani Party, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, and Hurras al-Dien; also witnessed preparations to confront these large mobilizations if the battle began, so they dug tunnels, trenches, strengthened their positions, and increased their guard numbers and their fighters on the fronts.