Key Syrian city falls to al-Qaida affiliate

ISTANBUL – In a major setback for Syrian President Bashar Assad, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria and forces from four other Islamist groups captured the city of Idlib on Saturday.

Videos posted on the Internet showed fighters, carrying the Nusra Front’s black flag, destroying statues and portraits of Assad in Idlib’s main squares and its government buildings, including the Baath Party headquarters and the headquarters of military intelligence.

Anti-government activists said the Islamists killed at least 50 government soldiers in the fighting, but that most of the government’s troops had fled to the al-Mastuma camp about 10 miles south of Idlib and to the nearby city of Ariha, both of which remain in government hands. The Islamists also seized at least six tanks from government forces.

The capture of Idlib shows the complexity of the Syrian battlefield. Two years ago, the government lost control of Raqqa, the other provincial capital to fall to Islamists; that city is now the de facto capital of the Islamic State. Islamic State once was allied with the Nusra Front but is now its bitter enemy. The United States is waging a bombing campaign against the Islamic State and also has struck Nusra Front targets. The Assad government is battling both the Islamic State and Nusra.

Before the war began three years ago, Idlib had a population of about 100,000, but many of its residents have fled to nearby Turkey. A large number of civilians fleeing combat elsewhere in Syria have taken over their abandoned lodgings.

The Nusra Front-led final push into Idlib began Tuesday, when its forces combined with four other groups to form a 6,000-man force they called the Fateh Army. The rebels targeted 24 regime checkpoints around Idlib, sending suicide bombers – Nusra’s most effective weapon – against six, followed by ground force attacks.

At least two of the suicide bombers were from other Arab countries, according to the activists.

“I saw fighters who attacked without fear, while Assad soldiers were running away from them,” Ali Ankeer, an activist, said in a telephone interview.

Moderate fighters once supported by the United States played no role in Idlib’s capture. They had been routed from the province by the Nusra Front over the past three months, and starting in December, the United States had cut their salaries and supplies.