Idlib Governorate

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Idlib / إدلب
Idlib
Libanon Jordanien Saudi-Arabien Türkei Irak Israel Westjordanland (de-facto Israel - teils unter Verwaltung der palästinensischen Autonomiebehörde) Golanhöhen (de-facto Israel - von Syrien als Teil von Quneitra beansprucht) Quneitra Darʿā as-Suwaida Damaskus Rif Dimaschq Tartus Latakia al-Hasaka Idlib Hama ar-Raqqa Aleppo Deir ez-Zor HomsThe location of the province in Syria
About this picture
The location of the province in Syria
Basic data
Country Syria
Capital Idlib
surface 6097 km²
Residents 1,852,062 (2012)
density 304 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2 SY ID

Coordinates: 35 ° 47 '  N , 36 ° 41'  E

Idlib ( Arabic مُحافظة إدلب, DMG Muḥāfaẓat Idlib ) is one of the 14 Syrian governorates and is located in the northwest of the country on the border with Turkey . According to a calculation for 2012, there are 1,852,062 people living on an area of ​​6,097 km². The population density is accordingly 303.8 inhabitants / km². The capital of the governorate is Idlib .

Syrian civil war

With its strategically important location in the Syrian civil war, the governorate had been the scene of heavy fighting and the target of numerous air strikes since 2011. After the fighters of the terrorist organization Islamic State had been largely expelled, large parts of the governorate were controlled by members of the jihadist group HTS , who recruited their offspring of fighters from refugee camps.

As the war progressed, President Bashar al-Assad's regime concluded several agreements with defenders of insurgent areas across the country, who gave up their positions and were given safe conduct to Idlib Governorate. In Idlib, in addition to the 1.6 million original inhabitants, around one million refugees had accumulated in the course of the war by March 2018. The intermingling of moderate insurgents with the often Islamist forces was seen as a tactic of the regime to discredit the defenders as a whole as foreign-controlled terrorists and thus to create a pretext for an attack on the government to which the international community will not react. High-ranking Arab officials from Amman and Beirut described the situation in the governorate in 2018 as a “cleverly constructed killbox”.

In mid-August 2018, the Syrian army began preparations for an offensive on Idlib, the last major rebel area in the country. Dozens of air and artillery attacks have been carried out in northwest Syria, including fighter jets and helicopters. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 22 people were killed. Previously, helicopters had dropped leaflets over villages in eastern Idlib, calling on residents to surrender.

In April 2019, troops loyal to the government and the Russian air force began an offensive in the Idlib governorate as part of their military operation in Syria , in which civil infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and markets, was systematically destroyed.

Three million people, two thirds of whom are dependent on humanitarian aid, as the majority are children and refugees from other parts of the country, live in and around the capital Idlib .

At the beginning of June, the UN emergency aid coordinator warned against continuing the offensive.

According to the UN, 330,000 people were forced to flee to other areas of the governorate at the end of June due to the daily bombing and fighting . According to Save the Children , more children died from the war in the governorate from late June 2019 to late July 2019 than in all of 2018. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports 837 civilian fatalities between April 30, 2019 and April 28, 2019. July 2019 in Idlib Governorate. According to the same source, over the same period 932 military casualties were counted by the Syrian government and 1007 by the rebels, including 625 jihadists.

In October 2019 in the US operation Kayla Mueller in Barischa with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the leader of the Islamic State killed.

From December of the same year, the Russian and Syrian armed forces intensified the offensive that began in April in the south and east of Idlib Governorate by increasing air strikes on extremist rebels, the Haiat Tahrir al-Sham .

The offensive is also supported by tens of thousands of Shiite militiamen from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iraq, which was set up by the Iranian Quds Brigade .

The President of Turkey warned of a new wave of refugees for the international community due to the offensive and with regard to the previous flight and migration across the Mediterranean to the EU and the refugee agreement between the EU and Turkey .

At the end of January 2020, the United Nations (UN) announced that around 520,000 people in Idlib had fled since December 2019. In December, more than 235,000 people fled south of the city of Idlib to the north of the governorate, to the cities of Ariha , Idlib and Saraqib or to already overcrowded refugee camps on the border with Turkey. A UN resolution on the delivery of aid via Turkey to the border region of Syria was blocked by Russia and China in the Security Council.

At the end of January, the Russian Air Force destroyed one of the last hospitals in the governorate as part of Scorched Earth .

In early February 2020, fighting broke out between the Syrian armed forces and the Turkish armed forces ; the latter maintain observation posts in the governorate on the basis of an agreement with Russia .

In mid-February 2020, the World Food Program (WFP) reported more than 140,000 refugees within a week in February, so that a total of 800,000 people in Idlib had fled since December 2018. According to the WFP, 80% of them are women and children. Alone near the city of Idlib, according to the UN , 80,000 refugees live in unheated tents at sub-zero temperatures due to a lack of suitable accommodation; this resulted in deaths from cold .

Districts

The governorate is divided into five districts (Mintaqa):

District Places (main place in bold)
Ariha Ariha , Ihsim, Muhambal
Harim Armanaz, ad-Dana, Harim , Kafr Tacharim, Qurqina, Salqin
Idlib Al Fu'ah, Abu z-Zuhur , Binnisch, Idlib , Kafarya, Maʿarrat Misrin, Saraqib , Sarmin, Taftanaz
Jisr al-Shughur Bidama, Darkush, al-Janudiyya, Jisr al-Shughur , Yacoubeh
Maʿarat an-Nuʿman Khan Sheikhun, Hish, Kafr Nabl, Maʿarat an-Nuʿman , Sinjar, at-Tamanaʿa

Web links

Commons : Idlib Governorate  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. World Gazetteer @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bevoelkerungsstatistik.de
  2. ↑ Patrick Cockburn: "While defeat of Isis dominates global attention, al-Qaeda strengthens in Syria" The Independent of September 7, 2017
  3. ↑ Martin Chulov: Syrian rebels and families begin exile from besieged Ghouta , in: The Guardian, March 22, 2018
  4. ↑ Observer: Syrian army before offensive in Idlib . Deutsche Welle, August 11, 2018.
  5. ↑ War in Syria: "The last huge concern is Idlib" . Zeit Online, August 9, 2018.
  6. ^ Dominik Peters, Maximilian Popp, Christoph Sydow: Civil war in Syria: Idlib is facing an inferno . In: Spiegel Online . July 23, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 27, 2019]).
  7. ↑ a b More Children Killed in Idlib in Last Four Weeks than All of 2018. Accessed July 27, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Syria, Russia air attacks hit Idlib's hospitals , AlJazeera, June 4, 2019; “ At least 26 medical facilities have been hit ”.
  9. ↑ Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent: Russia and Turkey landgrab 'behind fresh Syria bombardment' . In: The Guardian . May 8, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed July 27, 2019]).
  10. ^ A b c Christoph Sydow: UN warning on Syria: "Idlib is facing the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the century" . In: Spiegel Online . June 5, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 27, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Martin Chulov: "Russia and Turkey landgrab 'behind fresh Syria bombardment'" The Guardian of May 8, 2019
  12. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: Refugees in Turkey: The mood has turned. Retrieved July 27, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Syria's Idlib 'on the brink' of a nightmare, humanitarian chiefs warn, launching global solidarity campaign. June 27, 2019, accessed on July 27, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b After tens of attempts ... the regime forces advance in the strategic village of Tal Melh north of Hama after preliminary heavy ground and aerial firepower by the regime and its helicopters. Retrieved July 29, 2019 .
  15. ↑ tagesschau.de: Syria: Reports of dozens of dead in fighting in Idlib. Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
  16. ↑ tagesschau.de: UN: Russia and China block aid program. Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
  17. ↑ a b Air strikes in northern Syria: Erdogan warns of "new wave of migration" . In: Spiegel Online . December 23, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 23, 2019]).
  18. ↑ Dominik Peters, Maximilian Popp: Fight for the Syrian province of Idlib: Escape from the inferno . In: Spiegel Online . December 27, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 28, 2019]).
  19. ↑ a b c Christoph Reuter, Maximilian Popp, DER SPIEGEL: Putin and Erdoğan in the fight for Idlib: Will the brothers in arms become enemies? - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .
  20. ↑ tagesschau.de: Offensive in Syria: Hundreds of thousands flee from fighting. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Susanne Koelbl, DER SPIEGEL: Idlib: A refugee reports on the civil war in Syria - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  22. ↑ tagesschau.de: 235,000 people flee after attacks in northern Syria. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  23. ↑ tagesschau.de: Attacks on Idlib: Warning of "humanitarian catastrophe". Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  24. ↑ tagesschau.de: After the attack on Turkish soldiers: Skirmishes between Turkey and Syria. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Anna-Sophie Schneider, Maximilian Popp, DER SPIEGEL: Syria: Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin fight for Idlib - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved February 14, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Leonie Voss, DER SPIEGEL: Syria: 800,000 people in Syria on the run - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Leonie Voss, DER SPIEGEL: Syria: 800,000 people in Syria on the run - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .