Syrian forces have advanced on Saturday at the expense of jihadist factions and fighters in Idlib province in the northwest of the country, controlled by a number of towns and villages, coinciding with the continued movement of population from the region. This was reported by AFP news agency.

On the other front near Damascus, the regime forces stepped up its shelling of the besieged eastern enclave, the day after an attack by jihadist and Islamic factions in the region, causing Saturday killing at least seven civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In the south-eastern countryside of Idlib, the Observatory reported “fierce clashes” that have been going on since the dawn of Saturday between the forces of the regime on the one hand and the Sham Liberation Organization (former Nusra) and fighting factions on the other.

Since Monday heavy fighting between the two sides in the border area between the provinces of Idlib and Hama (central), following a large attack initiated by the regime forces and was able to progress within the administrative border of the province of Idlib.

On Saturday, the regime’s forces managed to achieve new progress and control a number of towns and villages as part of its offensive to control the south-eastern countryside of Idlib and secure a strategic road to the city of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city.

The fighting, which is accompanied by heavy Syrian and Russian shelling, is concentrated in villages and towns in the north-eastern Hama countryside and adjacent area in the south-eastern countryside of Idlib.

An army source said the army had regained control of five towns, villages and a number of nearby hills in the northeastern Hama countryside.

The week-long fighting has prompted hundreds of families to flee the areas of engagement and those adjacent to them.

– “The boys are terrified” –

On Saturday, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of cars and trucks loaded with civilians and their belongings on their way from the areas of conflict and its surroundings towards the northern countryside and the city of Idlib, while some displaced people were camping in barren areas close to the town of Ma’arat al-Nu’man.

“We do not know how to describe my feelings. After this age we leave our land, our house and the livestock and leave without knowing where we will go,” said Abu Ahmed, 65, from the village of Sinjar in the Idlib countryside.

“We were bombed more than once and the army takes new areas every day, so we could not stay, the children are afraid of the sounds of bombing,” said the man, sitting next to a pickup truck and his family with their belongings.

As the battle drew near, Abu Khaled, a young man in his thirties, decided to move with his family to the north of the town of Ma’arat al-Nu’man, where he set up a tent in barren land.

“After the army came close to us and we were hit by air and missile strikes, we drove to the northern Ma’arra countryside temporarily to arrange our situation,” he told AFP.

“Most of what drove us to flee were the children who (…) are very frightened when they hear the sound of shelling and raids,” he said of the panic.

The province of Idlib border with Turkey, the control of government forces since 2015. The control of the Sham Liberation for months on the bulk of the province, while the presence of fighting factions to other areas of limited.

For the past two years, Idlib has been a destination for opposition fighters and civilians evacuated from several areas of Syria before government forces regain control.

Analysts predicted that Idlib will be the next target of the regime’s forces and its ally Russia after the end of the battles against the Islamic state organization.

– Dead in al-Ghouta –

The province of Idlib with parts of the provinces adjacent to one of the areas of agreement to reduce the tension reached in May in Astana under the auspices of Russia and Iran, allies of Damascus and Turkey in support of the opposition. The agreement took effect in Idlib in September.

On another front near Damascus, Syrian regime forces have stepped up artillery shelling and raids on several areas in the besieged eastern Ghouta, which are also covered by an agreement to reduce tension.

The Syrian Observatory reported the killing of seven civilians, including a girl Saturday, most of them by artillery shelling of the regime forces targeted several towns in the eastern Ghouta besieged, most notably Mesraba, Kvbarna and Otaya.

Among the victims was a nurse who was killed by an air strike targeting the city of Harasta while working on ambulances injured by previous raids on the city, according to the observatory.

The Syrian aircraft carried out dozens of raids on Harasta, Irbid and al-Marj area in eastern Ghouta on Saturday, according to the observatory.

The escalation follows the launching of the Sham Liberation Front and Islamist factions to attack positions under the control of the regime forces on the outskirts of the city of Harasta.

The forces of the eastern Gauta system have been tightly surrounded since 2013, causing serious shortages of food and medicine in the area of ​​some 400,000 people.

Twenty-nine critically ill patients have been evacuated from the area in batches this week in return for the release of combat groups from a similar number of prisoners held under an agreement with the regime’s forces.

Syria has been in a bloody conflict since its outbreak in 2011 with more than 340,000 people killed, massive infrastructure damage, displacement and displacement of more than half of the population inside and outside Syria.