Al Qaeda in Syria captured the last Syrian regime base in Idlib province Wednesday, after a two-year siege by rebel forces. Idlib is the second of fourteen state provinces to fall from government control.
Syrian state television acknowledged the loss of Idlib, stating that the army “which had protected the airport” had retreated, al Arabiya reported.
Rebels now control almost all of the province except for two Shiite villages, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, al Nusra Front, and a united group of Islamist and jihadi forces calling themselves the “Army of Conquest” captured the airport during a sandstorm that blocked the view of Syrian government forces.
“The regime couldn’t shell around the area because their planes could not shell accurately and they couldn’t see,” according to a monitor.
The rebels’ success is due to their ability to unite various rebel militias in the region against Assad forces and “a rapprochement of sorts between their main backers, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which has allowed a new flow of cash and weapons,” said BBC Arab Affairs Correspondent Sebastian Usher.
This is the latest in a series of victories for the Islamist forces, which have seized a number of cities in the province, including the capital city Idlib and Jisr al-Shughou in the northwestern province bordering Turkey.
Almost a quarter million people have died in Syria’s ongoing, five-year civil war. The United Nations is investigating reports that President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.
