Assad violates Sochi deal, causing civilian deaths

Syrian regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups violated the Sochi ceasefire agreement several times last month by striking opposition positions in Idlib's de-escalation zone, reportedly leaving dozens of civilians dead.

According to the White Helmets civil-defense agency, regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups last month attacked residential areas in the de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Last September in Russia's resort city of Sochi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to establish the Idlib de-escalation zone.

The following month saw all heavy weapons withdrawn from the de-escalation zone by Syrian opposition and anti-regime groups.

Nevertheless, according to the White Helmets, at least 30 people in Idlib were killed in January, including women and children, while another 180 were injured -- in Idlib, Hama and Latakia -- by regime drone attacks and artillery fire.

Last month also saw the regime target Idlib's southeastern countryside, along with rural parts of the Aleppo, Latakia and Hama provinces.

Mohamed Hallaj, director of the Coordinators of Interventions in Syria, an NGO, told Anadolu Agency that thousands of families had fled to areas near the Turkish border as a result of the ongoing violence.

In November and December of last year, more than 16,000 families were forced to flee their homes in southeastern Idlib and northern Hama, Hallaj said.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.