The Al-Nusra Front bombards Idlib

Terrorists from the Al-Nusra Front, a branch of Al-Qaida in Syria, also known as the Fath Al-Sham Front, have attacked a town in the north-western Syrian province of Idlib.

The Russian Centre for Reconciliation in Syria reported on Sunday that Al-Nusra terrorists had violated the ceasefire in Idlib in the last 24 hours. According to a statement, Oleg Zhurabliov, head of the Centre, said that “the bombing of the town of Karsaa, in the governorate of Idlib, by the terrorist organization al-Nusra was recorded”.

On March 5, Russia and Turkey agreed on a joint document outlining the first steps towards a solution to the situation in Syria, where a ceasefire linking the two countries' armies was agreed.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Syrian pro-government forces reportedly fired several rockets on Monday morning in areas of the same region of Idlib. 

In addition, SOHR activists have reported seeing Turkish helicopters flying over the Idlib camp and on Sunday, the observatory reported that the regime's forces renewed rocket attacks on the areas of Al-Fterah, Kansafra, Sfuhen, Al-Bara, Arnabah in Jabal Al-Zawiyah and Afes.

Meanwhile, Turkish-backed factions continue to attack civilians in Afrin through theft and looting of public and private property. In doing so, they are forcing civilians to leave these areas. 

On Sunday, the Russian Ministry reported that the Russian side of the Russian-Turkish commission monitoring the implementation of the truce in Syria had recorded one ceasefire violation, while the Turkish side had not recorded any violation of the truce.

Already on 14 April, there were moments of tension in the area when Turkish troops and Al-Nusra mercenaries clashed, before the patrol mission that was to take place on the M4 motorway in Idlib, following the agreement signed by Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Civilians gathered near the town of Nairab, close to where the mission was to take place, to protest against the patrolling of the Turkish Army and the Russian Armed Forces. Tensions, according to ANF, rose when Turkey sent police forces to the site where Al-Nusra deployed a group of armed men. The patrol did not take place because of these clashes which ended with Al-Nusra members opening fire in the air.

Following the clashes in February between Turkish forces and the Syrian Army, with Russian support, which caused nearly one million people to leave their homes due to the continuous attacks, becoming the largest exodus of Syrian civilians since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, Ankara and Moscow signed a cessation of all military activity and the formation of a safety corridor six kilometres north and six kilometres south of the Aleppo-Latakia (M4) highway.