Damascus: Some 500 Syrians took to the streets of Idlib to call for an end to the offensive by government troops backed by Russia, an operation that includes daily bombardments.
Sunday’s rally was called by civilian activists from the city under the slogan “Idlib to Berlin”, referring to the fact that Germany has taken in a large number of Syrian refugees, Muhannad al-Yamani, one of the promoters, told Efe news.
The protest’s slogan also “delivers a message to Turkey that we do not want to reside in Turkey, but only want to cross (Turkey) into Germany”, he added.
Protesters have been calling on Turkey to open its border with Syria to allow civilians to flee the conflict between the Bashar al-Assad regime and opposition forces.
“We ask the international community to take responsibility for the children and women bombed by the Assad regime,” al-Yamani said.
The people will take to the streets in Idlib “a second and a third time until the bombardments stop”, he added.
Over the past few days, the Assad government forces have intensified their attacks on the towns in the area held by the armed opposition, which is mainly dominated by rebels and Islamist groups.
Ten civilians were killed earlier on Sunday in attacks by the Syrian army and Russian warplanes in the province and in the nearby city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Since April 2019, Syrian and Russian forces have been conducting a military offensive in the provinces of Idlib, Hama, Aleppo and Latakia to control the opposition militias.
A total of 1,587 civilians, including 306 women and 467 children, have been killed in airstrikes and ground operations by the warring parties from the beginning of the offensive in northwestern Syria through Jan. 23, 2020, according to the UN.
The violence has also forced around 400,000 people to leave their homes over the past couple of months, fleeing from southern Idlib and western Aleppo to nearby areas.
