Turkish and Russian-backed Syrian forces have clashed in recent days in Syria’s last rebel stronghold, threatening to escalate hostilities in a region where as many as 800,000 civilians have been displaced.
Since Dec. 1, nearly 800,000 people have been forcibly displaced in Idlib, an area roughly the size of Delaware, according to the United Nations. The IRC estimates that another 500,000 people remain in the firing line and will be displaced if violence continues.Those on the move have been battling bitter temperatures that have dropped as low as —11 degrees Celsius in Idlib this week, with thousands sheltering in tents, unfinished buildings and their vehicles, according to the IRC.
The momentum in Syria is in Assad’s favor as Russian-backed government forces have regained most of the country — securingAnkara and Moscow back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict but they have collaborated on finding a political solution to the war. “What the Russians are doing is trying to let the Assad regime take as much of Idlib as possible before they come in as the firefighters,” he said.
Turkey is already struggling to cope with the some 3.7 million Syrians it currently hosts. And with its economy still fragile following the 2018 currency crisis it has become less welcoming of the new arrivals, many of whom compete with Turks for low-paid work, according to Fadi Hakura, a consulting fellow at Chatham House, an international affairs think tank in London.
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