What’s at Stake in Idlib, Last Battle in Syria’s War

(Bloomberg) -- After nine years of civil war, the fighting over who controls Syria has come down to one province: opposition-held Idlib, in the northwest. Backed by Russian air power, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad began to advance on the area early this year. Because the drive left rebels and civilians caught in the crossfire with little room to flee inside Syria, it raised the specter of enormous bloodshed and a massive refugee exodus toward neighboring Turkey. The showdown put Russia and Turkey in conflict, after the two countries worked for years to contain the havoc of the war. A cease-fire was announced March 5, the latest after many earlier truces have broken down.

1. Who controls Idlib?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a breakaway faction of al-Qaeda, has emerged as the dominant force in Idlib after other rebel groups were crushed in relentless bombings by Russia and regime forces. Its fighters are well-trained and battle-hardened and are estimated to number 20,000 in combination with those of several other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. Turkey backs an estimated 40,000 other opposition forces who are loosely organized and deeply divided. They have struggled to stand their ground in the hope of securing a meaningful role in future peace talks. The government’s advance diminished the likelihood of that happening.

2. Why did Idlib heat up?

Because of the potential for human catastrophe, the province was declared a de-escalation zone along with three other areas under a 2017 agreement among Russia, Turkey and Iran, the outside powers warring in the country. Military posts were established in the province to monitor flare-ups of violence. Government troops, with Russian air support, recaptured the other zones through a combination of force and negotiated surrenders. In Idlib, Turkey said it persuaded the rebels to remove heavy weapons from a buffer zone under a 2018 agreement, though Russia wasn’t fully satisfied. Frustrated by a lack of progress on eliminating the rebel threat, Russia accused Turkey of failing to abide by its agreements on Idlib and justified the advance on the holdout as an anti-terrorism operation. Tensions soared after an airstrike Feb. 27 killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers.

3. What is Turkey’s agenda?

Turkey has already absorbed 3.7 million refugees from Syria, more than any other country, with all the social and economic strains that entails. Idlib’s population has nearly tripled since the war dislocated half of all Syrians. With approximately 3 million people now living there, and close to a million forced from their homes in recent months by Russian airstrikes and regime artillery, Turkey fears a massive new wave of newcomers. It’s frantically building shelters within Syria and doesn’t plan to let more refugees cross the frontier. One of Turkey’s main concerns is that jihadists could pose as civilians and constitute a security threat if allowed inside its borders.

4. What has Turkey done?

Turkey, which had already deployed military observers to Idlib under the 2017 accord, sent thousands of troops to the province in February as advancing Syrian forces backed by Russian aircraft encircled four of its observer posts. It confronted Syrian forces with artillery fire and drone strikes and appealed to U.S. and European allies for support. A member of NATO, it asked the U.S. for a pair of Patriot missile-defense batteries to be deployed on the Syrian border to deter Russian airstrikes. The U.S. hesitated; it has been at odds with Turkey over its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile-defense system, which the U.S. says can help Russia gather critical intelligence. By March 6, seven of 12 Turkish outposts remained besieged by Syrian forces.

5. What’s at stake for Russia in Idlib?

Russia’s goal has always been to help Assad reassert control over all Syrian territory. Recapturing Idlib would allow the Syrian government to expand links between the capital, Damascus, and the former commercial hub Aleppo, and to declare final victory in the war. Assad would still have to deal with Syrian Kurdish forces who emerged as one of America’s closest allies in the fight against Islamic State and wound up controlling about a third of the country in the northeast. But the Kurds seek autonomy from the regime, rather than its overthrow. Russia’s endgame also includes the reconstruction of Syria, for which it hopes to attract European Union funding. A bloodbath in Idlib could scuttle those aspirations.

6. Is there a way out?

Both Turkey and Russia have reasons not to let the conflict escalate and lead to a breach in relations as happened after Turkey downed a Russian military jet in the area in 2015. In a meeting in Moscow March 5, presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to an agreement that allowed the Syrian government to retain control of some ground it regained in previous weeks. The deal appeared to fall short of Erdogan’s desire to establish a new zone of control in Idlib to resettle millions of refugees and keep them from spilling into Turkey. The zone would also give Turkey a pretext to maintain troops and thereby some influence in postwar Syria. At the Putin-Erdogan summit, tensions weren’t far below the surface, as each side blamed the other’s allies for the latest escalation in fighting.

The Reference Shelf

• Erdogan’s Syria deal with Putin leaves the Turkish military besieged.
• Related QuickTakes on who’s still fighting in Syria, the stakes in the war, the U.S.-Turkey conflict over Russian missiles, the roots of the Syrian war and Syria’s Kurdish forces.
• Report by the International Crisis Group on the crisis in Idlib crisis and the jihadist factor there.
• A report on Tayat Tharir al-Sham by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
• A U.S. Congressional Research Service report on the Syrian war.

--With assistance from Samuel Dodge and Henry Meyer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Lisa Beyer, Mark Williams

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