Idlib, Syria, 29 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Heavy clashes and shelling continued on Friday between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces in the north-western part of the country, forcing 14,000 people to leave their homes, activists and the UN said.

The fighting which started two days ago is continuing around the area of Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo.

Activists in Idlib told dpa the fighting was very intense on Friday around the town of Saraqeb in the eastern countryside of Idlib.

"This is a key town because if they [the rebels] control it, they can control the Aleppo-Damascus highway," activists said.

Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least four students were killed and two others were wounded when rebels shelled a place housing university students in Aleppo city, a claim denied by rebel forces.

The Syrian army, backed by their Russian allies, has retaliated by carrying out more than 60 heavy airstrikes on rebel positions in Idlib and the Aleppo area since Wednesday morning.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory, said the death toll has reached 242 since Wednesday, among them 24 civilians.

The opposition factions announced the offensive on Wednesday under the moniker “Deterrence of Aggression,” and claimed it was a response to recent artillery shelling from government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on civilian targets.  

The situation is deteriorating, particularly affecting the civilian population, warned David Carden, deputy regional UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Syria.

More than 14,000 people have now been displaced over the past three days, Carden said.

“I am alarmed by the deteriorating situation in north-west Syria and the impacts on the lives of civilians," he told dpa, adding, "We are getting reports of children with multiple shrapnel wounds from the attacks."

This is the heaviest fighting in years between Islamist rebels and Syrian government troops in north-western Syria.

President al-Assad, with the help of his allies Russia and Iran, has managed to regain control of two-thirds of the country again from rebels in the past years.

Idlib is the last rebel stronghold in war-torn Syria.

MIA file photo