Regime helicopter downed in northwest Syria's Nairab town

A military helicopter belonging to the Assad regime was shot down in northwest Idlib province on Tuesday, two Turkey-backed rebel commander said on Tuesday.

The helicopter was downed south of Idlib city, where rebels supported by Turkish artillery were advancing near the town of Nairab to push back Russian-led forces, Abdulah al Shami, a commander in a coalition of mainstream rebel factions, told Reuters.

The helicopter was moving to target opposition positions amid an ongoing push to recapture Saraqib from regime forces, they said.

The Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies have continued intensified air and land attacks on civilian settlements in the de-escalation zone.

The regime managed to take control of wide areas in Idlib and is set to seize control of the strategic M5 highway that connects the capital Damascus to Aleppo, Syria's second-biggest city.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Since then, however, more than 1,800 civilians there have been killed in attacks by regime and Russian forces as the ceasefire continues to be violated.

Turkey announced on Jan. 10 that a new ceasefire in Idlib would start just after midnight on Jan. 12, but the regime and Iran-backed terrorist groups continued their attacks.

More than 1.7 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the past year.

Turkey remains the country with the most refugees in the world, hosting more than 3.7 million migrants since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.