Precarious Cease-Fire in Syria Holds, Bringing Relief to Last Rebel Holdout by Nazih Osseiran – Wall Street Journal
A fragile cease-fire in northwest Syria held Monday, months after the United Nations warned of a humanitarian crisis developing in the last rebel stronghold fighting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Russia declared the unilateral cease-fire in Idlib province on Friday and it went into effect Saturday morning. The province has suffered daily airstrikes since the end of April as the regime of President Basha al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, attempts to retake the province and reassert control over the entire country after eight years of conflict.
The province is home to about three million people, half of whom have been displaced from elsewhere in Syria. Aircraft have regularly fired missiles and dropped barrel bombs on the province, targeting civilian areas including hospitals and schools, according to the nonprofit Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations…