Islamist rebel forces fighting against the regime of Syria’s Iran-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad achieved an impressive achievement with the takeover (Arabic link) Sunday of the city of Idlib, a regional capital in northwestern Syria. Idlib overlooks the country’s main highways and is close to the Alawite stronghold in the coastal city of Latakia.

This is the second district city where the Syrian regime lost control completely, after rebels overran Raqqa two years ago.

The city’s conquerors are not moderate rebels such as the Free Syrian Army, but rather jihadi groups, especially the Al-Nusra Front (Arabic link), the arm of al-Qaeda in Syria. The jihadists will now try to run the affairs of the province, but it will likely be a difficult task: the Syrian regime is expected to bomb parts of the city in an attempt to regain control, and hundreds of thousands of refugees who found refuge in Idlib may be soon forced to leave it.

After four years of crisis, Syria is now divided into five groups of armed forces: the Syrian regime and its allies including the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia from Lebanon, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the al-Nusra Front, the Free Syrian Army factions, and Kurdish forces.

The Syrian army controls the capital of Damascus, the major cities of Hama and Homs, and the Syrian coastal strip. The moderate Syrian opposition has control of some areas of southern Syria and the area near the border with Israel and has a massive presence around the northern city of Aleppo, where it is involved in ongoing fierce battles with the Syrian army.

ISIS mainly controls the northeastern region (the cities of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Haska), and a significant part of the eastern border with Iraq. It recently lost control of Kobane, a northern Kurdish city near the border with Turkey. Kurdish forces, who control the northern regions along the Turkish border, reconquered the city after a long battle. Al-Nusra controls the southern province of Quneitra and now also Idlib.

No side has been able to force a victory over the last four years, with the war in Syria leading to the deaths of at least 210,000 people. About a million people have been injured and over 10 million forced to leave their homes and become refugees both inside and outside Syria. Four million of the refugees currently reside in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

[Photo: euronews (in English) / YouTube ]