Russia intensifies attacks on Syrian rebels after advance

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has launched a series of airstrikes on several areas in Syria where opposition forces have recently made territorial gains, a war monitor said on Sunday.

The Russian attacks early on Sunday targeted towns and villages seized by an Islamist-led opposition alliance in the northwestern province of Idlib and the central province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Similar attacks were also reported in the northern city of Aleppo, which was overrun by the opposition earlier this week in a surprise offensive against al-Assad’s forces.

“The Russians have not stopped their bombing on all fronts since last night,” said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Observatory.

He told dpa that the rebels are now in control of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, with the exception of some Kurdish-ruled neighborhoods on the northwestern outskirts.

An alliance of rebel factions led by the Islamist militant organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) unleashed a massive attack in northwestern Syria on Wednesday, marking a significant escalation of the country’s civil war, which has been raging since 2011 and recently ended. exhausted. relatively stable front lines.

HTS is considered one of the most powerful armed militias in northwest Syria.

The opposition attack is considered by the rebels to be the biggest since 2016, when they were driven from the eastern parts of the city.

On Saturday, the Syrian army said the large number of insurgents involved in the offensive on multiple fronts had prompted government forces to redeploy in preparation for a counterattack.

The fighting has displaced thousands of local residents, activists say.

With the help of his allies Russia and Iran, al-Assad has managed to regain control of about two-thirds of the country from rebels in recent years.