Syrian civilians flee Idlib after rebels take control

Residents fear reprisals from Assad regime as troops regroup for counter-offensive.

Rebel fighters deface a statue of the late Syrian president Hafez Al Assad in Idlib city on March 28, 2015. Sami Ali / AFP

BEIRUT // Syrians fled Idlib on Sunday, fearing government reprisals a day after opposition fighters and a powerful Al Qaeda affiliate captured the town.

Idlib, with a population of around 165,000 people, is the second provincial capital to fall to the rebels after Raqqa, which is now a stronghold of ISIL. Idlib’s capture by several factions led by the Jabhat Al Nusra underscores the growing power of extremist groups in Syria, which now control about half the country.

Jabhat Al Nusra and Syrian rebels have controlled the countryside and towns across Idlib province since 2012, but Bashar Al Assad’s forces had maintained their grip on Idlib city, near the border with Turkey, throughout the conflict.

Now that the city is in the hands of rebels, who stormed government buildings and tore down posters of Mr Al Assad, many residents fear that troops will retaliate harshly.

Muayad Zurayk, an activist based in Idlib province, said via Skype that “residents are fleeing the city to nearby villages and towns.” He added that the situation was relatively quiet in the city on Sunday despite some government shelling.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed some people were fleeing the city.

Government forces were on Sunday regrouping outside the city.

“Forces are repositioning on the outskirts of Idlib to face the terrorist battalions ... and be in the best position to repel their attack,” a security source in Damascus said.

The Al Watan newspaper, which is close to the Assad regime, said reinforcements had been sent to the area ahead of an operation to retake control of the city.

Also in Idlib, activists said members of a Syrian security agency killed more than a dozen detainees before withdrawing from a detention centre in the city. The activists said the killings were conducted shortly before rebels took the so-called security compound in Idlib on Saturday.

The Idlib Media Center showed a video of what it said were at least 12 bloodied bodies inside a room at the Military Intelligence Directorate.

The Observatory said 15 men were found shot dead inside the compound. The group said 53 other detainees, including two women, were freed by the rebels in the compound.

The group that seized Idlib calls itself the Army of Conquest and includes Jabhat Al Nusra and the powerful Ahrar Al Sham group, as well as other smaller conservative rebel forces.

They touted their victory on social media, with Al Nusra’s Twitter accounts posting photos of its fighters in front of government buildings.

The city’s capture was praised by opposition forces across the spectrum of Syria’s uprising.

The opposition National Coalition, which is recognised by much of the international community, welcomed it as “an important victory on the road to the full liberation of Syrian territory”.

Analysts said Al Nusra’s role in Idlib’s capture had put the Coalition and other “moderate” rebels in a difficult position.

“The capture of Idlib is huge boost for the Syrian opposition, but it’s one that once again will serve to underline the relative inadequacies of genuine ‘moderates,’” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre think tank.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict, which began with an Arab Spring uprising in March 2011 and turned into an insurgency following a brutal military crackdown.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse