For three months Damascus and its ally Russia have been pummelling hospitals, markets and schools in Idlib unleashing a deadly, ferocious campaign aimed at retaking Syria’s last jihadist-run stronghold, analysts say. Opponents to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have denounced what they say call a bid to “exterminate” the region, while the UN has condemned the world’s “collective shrug” at the mounting casualties, many of them women and children. Located in northwest Syria, Idlib as well as parts of the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia remain under the control of a jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate.
