Syria regime still striking Idlib truce zone: Residents

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu</p> <p>IDLIB, Syria (AA) – Ongoing regime attacks are destabilizing Syria’s northwestern Idlib province despite a demilitarization agreement reached late last year in the Russian city of Sochi.</p> <p>Last September, Russia and Turkey agreed to set up a de-escalation zone in Idlib — in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited — to allow the return of thousands of displaced Syrians to their homes. </p> <p>Drone footage obtained by Anadolu Agency in Idlib’s southern town of Al-Latamne shows the extent of the devastation to which the area has been subject for the last eight years, with many homes, schools and mosques in ruins. </p> <p>Local resident Mahmoud Hamavi said regime forces had most recently attacked a local civil-defense center.</p> <p>&quot;Civilians will either have to go up north, where there are refugee camps, or die here,” he said. “But even the camps aren’t safe anymore due to heavy rainfall.”</p> <p>Hamavi added: “People are left with only one option: to try to make it to Europe through Turkey.” </p> <p>Ahmad Mansour, another town resident, told Anadolu Agency that most local people had felt relieved after September’s agreement between Ankara and Moscow.</p> <p>The repercussions of Sochi were very positive here; people started returning home,” Mansour said. “But continued violations by the regime and its Iranian allies forced many of them to go back.”</p> <p>He also called on aid organizations to assist local residents, who, he said, were being “tormented” by harsh winter conditions in the region.</p> <p>Galib Hussain, a school principal in Al-Latamne, said that, even though the town is solely populated by civilians, local schools have had to suspend activities due to ongoing attacks by the regime and its allies.</p> <p>&quot;Over a thousand families have had to go back to refugee camps or safe areas since the Sochi agreement,&quot; he said.