Explosion in Idlib Kills At Least 23

At least 23 people were killed in a large car bombing in the insurgent-held city of Idlib on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

Citing the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the AP said the attack targeted the offices of an insurgent group called Ajnad al-Koukaz, which is made up of foreign fighters, mostly from the Caucasus and Russia.

The militants are aligned with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, the dominant political and military force in the province, the AP said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

Hours before the car bombing, the Syrian army and allied forces seized the town of Sinjar in eastern Idlib from insurgents, the AP said, citing Syrian state-run al-Ikhbariya TV.

According to the SOHR, the advance will help pro-government forces push toward the nearby strategic Abu Zuhour air base, which rebels captured in September 2015, the AP said.

Idlib is the last province in Syria under complete opposition control.

Government Launches Attack on Army Base in Damascus Suburbs

Pro-government forces on Sunday launched an attack on a rebel-held base in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, Reuters reported.

Around 200 Syrian troops are believed to have been besieged by rebels, mainly belonging to the Ahrar al-Sham group, in the Military Vehicles Administration base in the suburb of Harasta since last Sunday.

Pro-government forces broke the siege of the military installation on Sunday in an attempt to liberate allied forces trapped in the facility. Citing the SOHR, Reuters said government forces “opened a loophole” that led them into the base.

“Fighting is underway to expand the route that was opened into the base … and the army will press on with its offensive beyond liberating the base,” Reuters quoted an unidentified Syrian state TV reporter as saying during a live broadcast from a nearby location.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government has escalated its airstrike and artillery assault on the Eastern Ghouta as battles over the military base continue.

At least 17 civilians were killed in Syrian government and Russian airstrikes on the besieged suburbs east of the capital on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reported.

Report: More Than 2,000 Afghans Killed in Syria War

More than 2,000 Afghan fighters sent by Iran to Syria to battle alongside pro-government forces have been killed in the war-torn country, Agence France-Presse said on Saturday, citing an official in the Afghan force.

Zohair Mojahed, a “cultural official” in the Fatemiyoun Brigade of Afghan recruits, told Iranian media that his group has been fighting in Syria for five years, AFP said.

“This brigade has given more than 2,000 martyrs and 8,000 wounded for Islam,” Mojahed said in an interview with the reformist Shargh newspaper published Saturday, AFP reported.

Iran rarely releases the numbers of its fighters that have been killed in Iraq and Syria.

According to AFP, the Fatemiyoun group, made up primarily of recruits from Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, is said to be the largest military force to have been dispatched by Tehran in Iraq and Syria.

Recommended Reads

• The Associated Press: Battle Looms for Rebel-Held Syrian Province After I.S. Defeat
• The Wall Street Journal: Syria’s Festering War Wound: Legions of the Missing
• Agence France-Presse: Syria Rebel Enclave Is Assad Regime’s Weak Spot
• The Wall Street Journal: Syria Looms as Second Thought Over Iranian Unrest
• Anadolu Agency: Ex-Prisoner Recalls Torture Behind Bars in Syria