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[ad_1] Idlib is the last rebel-held stronghold of the Syrian war. The 90,000 rebels (20,000 of them extremist jihadis - Assad's regime refuses to differentiate) were expecting an offensive by the Syrian Arab Army and its Russian and Iranian allies to start, but it has been postponed after Russia and Turkey agreed to establish a demilitarised zone around the province. Postponed being the operative word. Here Newsnight's Mike Thomson explains why the battle for Idlib could spell the end of the Syrian war. Graphics: Stelios Thoukidides Watch more from Newsnight here . [ad_2]

[ad_1] Commander Nabel is a Christian who leads a local group of volunteers fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the war in Syria. His fighters are camped outside Idlib, the country's last remaining rebel stronghold. They were expected to launch a final offensive on Idlib last month. That was postponed after a demilitarised zone was agreed. But President Assad hasn't ruled out future military action, in his bid to restore complete control over the country. [ad_2]

[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...

[ad_1] Image copyright AFP Image caption The Nur al-Din al-Zinki faction said it was withdrawing its heavy weapons on Saturday Syrian rebel fighters are reported to have withdrawn their heavy weapons from the frontlines around Idlib province. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said rockets, mortars and missiles had been removed in line with a deal to create a demilitarised buffer zone separating rebel and government forces. The agreement is being overseen by Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, a key ally of the government. They want to avert a government assault on Idlib, the last major rebel bastion. The UN has warned that a full-scale battle could trigger a "humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict" . Living in a constant state of worry Why does the battl...

[ad_1] JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon to discuss security coordination over Syria, amid friction with Moscow over Israel's air operations. Netanyahu made the announcement at a cabinet meeting, without citing a specific date for the talks with Putin. Russia said on Tuesday it had upgraded Syria's air defences with the S-300 missile system , after accusing Israel of indirect responsibility for the downing of a Russian spy plane by Syrian forces as they fired on attacking Israeli jets last month. Israeli officials have said the new system could be defeated by Israel's stealth fighters and possibly destroyed on the ground, and they have pledged to press on with efforts to prevent military entrenchment by arch-enemy Iran in Syria. But since the Russian plane was shot down, there have been no reports of Israeli air strikes in Syria. The apparent pause has raised speculation in the Israeli m...

[ad_1] PARIS: The US-led military alliance battling the Islamic State group faces "a tough fight" to oust the jihadists from their last holdouts in Syria , US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday. While the extremists have lost almost all of the self-declared "caliphate" they held across Iraq and Syria four years ago, Mattis warned that destroying the group completely was "still going to take some time". "Make no mistake about it, as ISIS has collapsed inward, in their own way they have reinforced the centre as they've been forced into what is now less than two percent of their original territory," Mattis told reporters in Paris. "So it's going to still be a tough fight, I don't want anyone to be under any illusions," he added. "We will be successful but it's still going to take some time." Last month the military chief of France, which has troops in the US alliance fighting IS, estimated the jihadi...

[ad_1] TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Monday they launched a missile strike against a "terrorist" headquarters in Syria in retaliation for an attack that killed 24 people in the Iranian city of Ahvaz . Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had vowed a "crushing" response to last month's assault — claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group — on a military parade commemorating the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. "The headquarters of those responsible for the terrorist crime in Ahvaz was attacked a few minutes ago east of the Euphrates by several ballistic missiles fired by the aerospace branch of the Revolutionary Guards," the Guards said on their website. "Based on preliminary reports, many takfiri terrorists and the leaders responsible for the terrorist crime in Ahvaz have been killed or wounded in this missile attack," they added. The term "takfiri" refers to Sunni Muslim extremists. The Guards released pictures of what appeare...

[ad_1] Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The moment gunmen open fire on an Iranian military parade Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they have fired missiles at militants in eastern Syria in response to a deadly attack on a military parade last month. A statement said "many terrorists were killed or injured" in the strikes. At least 22 people were killed in September's gun attack in the city of Ahvaz, the deadliest in Iran for more than a decade. Both the Islamic State group and an Arab separatist group have claimed the assault. Four gunmen reportedly opened fire at the parade to mark the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Women, children and members of the Revolutionary Guards were among the dead, according to officials. Iran later announced the arrest of 22 people in connection with the incident. At the funerals of the victims, the deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards Brig-Gen Hossein Sa...