ALEPPO, Syria — The United Nations announced Jan. 16 that the escalation of violence in northwest Syria has led to the displacement of more than 200,000 people since mid-December. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report that it had recorded 212,140 instances of displacement between Dec. 15 and Jan. 16.

This humanitarian tragedy came after Syrian regime and paramilitary forces, assisted by Russian aircraft, stepped up air, artillery and missile strikes against opposition-held cities and towns in the southern countryside of Aleppo, the southeastern countryside of Idlib and the northeastern countryside of Hama.

The early December escalation came in the wake of two months of sporadic fighting between the regime forces and the armed opposition in the northeastern countryside of Hama and the southern countryside of Aleppo, which are adjacent to the countryside of Idlib. These battles, coupled with intense raids and artillery shelling on the part of the regime and Russian aircraft, have led thousands of families to flee and empty the areas of conflict.

The ongoing military operation that the regime began on Oct. 24 targeted the Abu al-Duhur military air base in the southeastern countryside of Idlib and controlling opposition-held areas in the east of the Hejaz railway between Aleppo and Damascus. The Abu al-Duhur military base is the second largest military airport in the north of Syria. It was seized by the armed opposition on Sept. 8, 2015, and the regime is seeking to gain control of it because of its proximity to the Iranian military base in Jabal Azzan in the southern countryside of Aleppo.