Northwestern Syria offensive (April–August 2019)
The 2019 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed "Dawn of Idlib" (Arabic: فجر إدلب),[46] was a military operation launched on 30 April 2019 by the Syrian Armed Forces and its allies against rebel groups in northwestern Syria during the Syrian civil war in a region known as "Greater Idlib",[47][48][49] consisting of northwest Hama, southern Idlib and northeastern Latakia provinces. The government's main objectives were to open the M5 highway and to expel non-compliant militant groups, particularly the internationally proscribed al-Qaeda-linked group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),[50][51][52] from the 15–20 km demilitarized zone demarcated by Turkey and the Russian Federation at Sochi in 2018.[53] The offensive was seen by both parties as crucial to the outcome of the war.[54][55][56]
On 1 August 2019, the Syrian government declared that it would halt its operation on Idlib on the next day. In response, Tahrir al-Sham stated that the truce proved "the failure of the criminal regime’s military operation against the liberated north."[57] In response to HTS refusal to agree to a ceasefire, alongside HTS' refusal to comply with the parameters of the Sochi Agreement,[58] the Syrian Army resumed the offensive on 5 August, capturing numerous villages and strategic hilltops[59] in southern Idlib before seizing Khan Shaykhun and subsequently the entire rebel-held pocket in southern Idlib.
During the course of the offensive, the Syrian and Russian air forces continually conducted airstrikes against rebel positions, while pro-government ground forces intensively targeted them with surface-to-surface missiles and heavy artillery on a daily basis.[60][61]
− the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for "an urgent de-escalation". The UN reported that over 152,000 people in Idlib were displaced since late April, since the leadup to the offensive.[537] The United Nations Security Council scheduled a closed-door meeting to discuss the offensive on Friday (10 May), at the initiative of Germany, Belgium and Kuwait.[538] The United Nations Human Rights Council issued a statement welcoming the ceasefire proclaimed by the Syrian Army on 18 May, while still criticising both parties to the conflict and calling them to "do everything feasible not to put civilians in harm’s way".[539]
