Syrian opposition gains control of entire Idlib, advances towards Hama

Opposition groups opposing the Assad regime recaptured the Khan Sheikhoun district and gained control over the entire Idlib province.​​​​​​​

Having regained much of Aleppo city, a key airport and all of Idlib province from regime forces, the armed groups are now advancing towards Hama, which lies to the south of Idlib and is under regime control.

The armed groups, which have been clashing with the regime forces in the north of the country since November 27, continue to advance in the east and southeast of Idlib.

The armed groups took over more than 50 villages from the regime forces as of Saturday morning and recaptured the Khan Sheikhoun district centre. With the capture of Khan Sheikhoun, the anti-regime groups gained control across Idlib.

In August 2019, the Assad regime forces took control of Khan Sheikhoun in defiance of the Astana agreements and the Sochi memorandum.

Anti-regime armed groups on Saturday also recaptured Maarrat al-Numan, the largest town in Idlib province.

The town of Khan Sheikhoun was on the world agenda after the Assad regime killed 100 people in a chemical weapons massacre on April 4, 2017.

The US struck the regime's Shayrat military airbase on April 7, 2017, and the Joint Investigation Mission of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed on Oct. 27, 2017, that the regime had carried out the attack.

The center of Idlib fell under opposition control in 2015. Idlib was one of the most heavily targeted areas by the regime.

At the Astana meeting between Türkiye, Russia and Iran on May 4-5, 2017, four “de-escalation zones” were established, including Idlib province and some parts of neighbouring provinces (Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces), the north of Homs province, Eastern Ghouta in the capital Damascus and the southern regions of the country (Daraa and Quneitra provinces).