Idlib front is main battle to end Syria war: Assad

DAMASCUS: Defeating jihadists in Idlib is the key to ending  Syria ‘s eight-year-old civil war, President Bashar al-Assad said Tuesday on his first visit to the embattled northwestern region since 2011.  “The battle of Idlib is the basis for resolving chaos and terrorism in all other areas of  Syria ,” Assad’s office quoted him as telling troops in the frontline town of Al-Hbeit.  It published a picture of the president surrounded by troops dressed in military fatigues, with maps hanging behind them.  His comments came as Syrian troops continued to deploy in parts of the north where they are supporting Kurdish forces to contain a Turkish invasion, according to state news agency SANA.
After turning the tide of the war, Assad’s forces now control around 60 per cent of the country  and the president has repeatedly vowed to return all of it to his control, including Idlib.
The Idlib region, which has some three million residents, half of them displaced from other parts of the country, is the last major rebel bastion in  Syria .