BEEAccording to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Russia carried out “a sequence of airstrikes” in Syria early Sunday morning as rebels superior south.
They hit rural areas of Idlib and Hama the place the group main the insurgent offensive “lately took management”, SOHR said in an update.
Saturday follows the primary Russian assaults on Aleppo since 2016, when rebels seized massive elements of Syria’s second-largest metropolis.
The offensive, which started earlier this week, marks probably the most vital combating within the Syrian civil struggle lately.
According to the SOHR, greater than 300 folks have been killed since Wednesday, together with at the least 20 civilians.
Opposition fighters raided a number of cities on Saturday within the countryside close to Syria’s fourth-largest metropolis, Hama, south of Aleppo.
The military has now “drawn a line of defense” round various cities and cities within the area, SOHR wrote on X.
Speaking on Saturday, President Assad vowed to “defend (Syria’s) stability and territorial integrity within the face of all terrorists and their supporters.”
“(The nation) is succesful, with the assistance of its allies and associates, of defeating and eliminating them, irrespective of how intense their terrorist assaults,” his workplace mentioned.
Iran’s high diplomat Abbas Aragchi will go to Damascus on Sunday to debate the offensive.
The civil struggle, which has killed round half 1,000,000 folks, started in 2011 after Assad’s authorities responded to pro-democracy protests with a brutal crackdown.
The battle has remained largely dormant since a ceasefire was agreed in 2020, however opposition forces have retained management of the northwestern metropolis of Idlib and far of the encompassing province.
Idlib is situated simply 55 km from Aleppo, which itself was a insurgent stronghold till it fell to authorities forces in 2016.
The newest offensive was led by an Islamic militant group often known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions backed by Türkiye.
HTS was thought of one of the efficient and lethal teams combating Assad’s authorities and was already the dominant power in Idlib.
According to the SOHR, the rebels have taken management of Aleppo’s airport and dozens of close by cities.
They additionally introduced a nighttime curfew that can come into impact at 5pm native time (2pm GMT).
The SOHR additionally mentioned that insurgent fighters superior south in direction of Hama and that the Syrian military withdrew.
But a army supply quoted by Syrian state media on Saturday night disputed this declare.
The Syrian military mentioned the rebels launched “a broad multi-axis assault on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts” and that the battles occurred “throughout a strip exceeding 100 km (60 miles)”.
Dozens of his troopers have been killed, he mentioned.
The Russian Air Force, which performed a major position in holding Assad in energy through the top of the civil struggle, carried out airstrikes in Aleppo on Saturday.
The strikes marked the primary Russian strikes within the metropolis since serving to Syrian authorities forces retake it in 2016.
Later on Saturday, 9 extra Russian strikes have been carried out on Idlib, SOHR mentioned.
A US spokesperson mentioned that Syria’s “dependence on Russia and Iran”, coupled with its refusal to maneuver ahead with a 2015 UN Security Council peace plan, had “created the circumstances that at the moment are checking” within the nation.
Images confirmed roads main out of Aleppo clogged with automobiles on Saturday as folks tried to go away, and smoke rising from the town’s skyline.
Reuters
