Suicide Bomb in Idlib Leaves 25 Dead, Including Rebel Fighters

A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people and injured 25 more in the rebel-held province of Idlib, near the Turkish border on Sunday, Al-Jazeera reported.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosives on a bus carrying opposition fighters near the Atmeh border crossing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The blast took place at the entrance of Atmeh refugee camp, which houses internally displaced people on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey. Turkish ambulances took eight critically injured rebels across the border to hospitals in Hatay province, four of whom later died, according to local Turkish authorities.

The remaining injured are being treated in hospitals in Syria.

Some 26 airstrikes hit Idlib over the weekend, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Airstrikes on the rebel-held province have reportedly intensified since opposition factions launched an offensive on government forces originating from Idlib to break a government siege on eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo.

Syrian Democratic Forces Say They Will Target ISIS in al-Bab Next

A U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters said they are launching a military campaign on the ISIS-held city of al-Bab, Agence France Presse reported.

After successfully pushing out ISIS militants in Manbij, on the Turkish border, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Sunday that they have created a military council to push militants out of al-Bab, a city in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo province.

An SDF statement on Sunday promised to liberate al-Bab and its surrounding areas, and called upon the U.S.-led coalition to “back us in our struggle to liberate our land and our brothers from the Daesh [ISIS] terrorists.”

The defeat of ISIS in Manbij, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of al-Bab, was the worst the militants have suffered yet. Remaining fighters retreated from the town on Friday after a U.S.-backed military campaign that lasted more than two months. Manbij was located on a key supply route for the militants that linked to their de facto capital in the northeastern city of Raqqa.

Rebels in Aleppo Launch New Attacks, Fighting Intensifies

Rebel operations on two government positions in western Aleppo led to heavy clashes in Syria’s largest city on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Aleppo has been divided between government-held neighborhoods in the western side of the city and rebel-held districts in the east for more than four years. Hundreds of civilians have died in recent weeks amid renewed and intensified fighting between various warring factions. Many civilians have been left without running water and basic supplies.

A rebel alliance that includes Islamist groups attacked an army base and residential district, Jamiat al-Zahraa, in the northwestern part of Aleppo city after detonating car bombs in the area. Rebel groups then attacked government positions in the southwest of the city, in a cement factory near a route that opens up into eastern Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Earlier on Sunday, pro-government forces captured positions in southwestern Aleppo, also near the main road to rebel-held Aleppo. Syrian government forces are backed by Shiite militias from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran on the ground, and the Russian air force in the sky.

Among the groups responsible for recent rebel advances in Aleppo is Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra. Previously an al-Qaida affiliate, the group changed its name and claimed to cut off external relations last month.

Recommended Reads

• The Guardian: Life and Death in Aleppo, a City Recently Under Siege
• The New York Times: Watching my Beloved Aleppo Rip Itself Apart
• The National: The Tale of Two Victories Against Syria’s Worst Killers
• Al Jazeera: Syria’s Civil War: One Conflict, Multiple Battles
• Foreign Policy: The Democratic Party’s Silence on Syria