Hit-and-run clash and exchange of control in the eastern countryside of Idlib, warplanes and helicopters intensify their airstrikes on the province

Idlib Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: clashes are taking place at a violent pace between the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities against the rebel and Islamic factions and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and the Islamic Turkestani Party, in areas in the southeastern countryside of Idlib after counterattacks by both parties, also the Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitored the factions advancing and regaining control of 2 new villages, while the regime forces advanced and regained control of Atshan village, and the contact lines between the regime forces and the factions witnessed violent clashes since the morning, where each party tried to advance at the expense of the other party, amid intense aerial bombardment on the countryside of Idlib today, where the warplanes and helicopters targeted areas at the outskirts of Saraqib town, the outskirts of Maarrat Al-Nu’man city, east Marshourin, al-Ghadqa area, al-Haraki village, Ma’saran area, the vicinity of a hospital in Ma’saran area, outskirts of Khan al-Sobol, outskirts of Khan Shaykhun city, and Hafsa camp near Ma’saran, Abu Al-Duhur and Abo Habba which caused injuries and material damage in the bombarded areas.

And with these advancement and retreats, the factions have taken control of 22 villages and areas so far: (al-Jadu’eiyah, al-Sallumiyah, Zafar Sagher, Zafar Kabir, Al-Hisa, Tel Salmo, Talab, Al-Dabshiya, Suruj, Al-Khawin, Tel Marq, Mushayrifa Shamali, Al-Jad’aniyya, Al-Lobayda, Umm Al-Khalakhil, Khariba, Rabia, Tell Khaznah, Al-Zarzor, Al-Hussein Farms, Stablat, Rasm Al-Ward), while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that at least 177 people, the death toll of members of the regime forces and the factions, who have been killed since Wednesday evening, the 10th of January, 2018. It also rose to 82, the number of members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, including 6 officers, including 3 colonels, one of them is close to Suhail Al-Hassan, and it rose to at least 95 fighters of the factions, including 6 commanders, who were killed in the same clashes. The death toll is expected to increase due to the presence of injured persons in serious conditions, and the factions managed to capture 31 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, in addition to tens of members of Turkestan Islamic Movement, who were also killed in the latest battles.