Opposition groups in Syria's Idlib province on Wednesday (August 1st) announced the formation of a new coalition, as President Bashar al-Assad looks to turn his sights on the northwestern region, AFP reported.

The National Liberation Front merges the alliance of islamist groups Ahrar al-Sham and Nureddine al-Zinki with four other opposition factions.

The coalition, however, will not include Idlib's dominant force -- the extremist alliance of Tahrir al-Sham.

The alliance was announced Wednesday by Ahrar al-Sham and Nureddine al-Zinki, who are already merged under the name of the Syrian Liberation Front.

One of the new coalition's objectives will be to "block all attempts by the regime to advance" towards opposition areas, its spokesman Naji Abu Hazifa told AFP.

Strategically important Idlib province shares a border with opposition-backer Turkey and is adjacent to Latakia, a regime stronghold on the Mediterranean.

Idlib is the last of four "de-escalation" zones agreed by world powers in 2017 where opposition fighters still have a major presence.

Opposition fighters and civilians bussed out of the other three zones when they fell to the government were taken to Idlib, increasing its population to around 2.5 million people.

In an interview last week with Russian media, Assad said Idlib was the government's next priority. But on Tuesday regime ally Russia ruled out the possibility of a major assault on the province.