Idlib province: Syria's last major rebel stronghold
[ad_1] BEIRUT: Syria's jihadist-dominated Idlib province is the last major area still outside regime control, after a string of ferocious assaults this year put most of the country back in government hands. The northwestern province and surrounding rebel-held territory are home to three million people, around half of them displaced from other parts of the country recaptured by Russian-backed Syrian regime forces . Here is some background. The province shares a border with rebel-backer Turkey and is also adjacent to Latakia, a regime stronghold on the Mediterranean coast home to President Bashar al-Assad's clan. Before fighting broke out in 2011, most of Idlib's inhabitants worked in agriculture, mainly growing cotton and cereals, or commuted to neighbouring Aleppo province. In March 2015, a coalition of Islamist fighters including some linked to al-Qaida seized the provincial capital and other key towns and government military installations. Hardcore Islamists and jihadist...