SUNDAY 25 AUGUST 2019As Assad pushes to take Idlib,
what happens next?
In his weekly series on the region, Ahmed Aboudouh examines
developments in the ongoing Syrian conflict
Syrians flee the town of Maaret al-Numan in the northwestern Idlib province (AFP)
Syrian and Russian soldiers are pushing to take Idlib, the last bastion for the opposition groups in
northwestern Syria, in a move that is likely to force hundreds of thousands to flee their homes towards the
Turkish borders further north.
The complicated situation has arisen when the Syrian air forces and Russian jets intensified their strikes on
scattered towns and villages south of Idlib city. The area has been home for up to 3 million displaced
civilians who took refuge from President Bashar al-Assad’s overwhelming military campaign to retake all