Al-Qaeda, foreign fighters have nowhere to go from Idlib
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![AFP_18D4K2 Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members at a camp in the countryside of the northern Idlib province on August 14, 2018. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo credit should read OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2018/09/GettyImages-1016749004.jpg/GettyImages-1016749004.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Gwgop3fA)
A UN official warned this week that an all-out military assault on Idlib, which has nearly 3 million residents, risked the potential for the worst humanitarian conflict “in the 21st century.”
Idlib also presents a terrorist threat comparable to Raqqa or Mosul, the previous strongholds of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham controls 60% of Idlib province and has as many as 10,000 fighters; there also are other jihadi groups and armed gangs there.