AMMAN/ANKARA: Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed rebel-held northwest Syria near the border with Turkiye on Thursday to push back an insurgent offensive that captured territory for the first time in years, Syrian army and rebel sources said.
Rebels led by militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo, which is controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The attack was the biggest since March 2020 when Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkiye, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire that ended years of fighting that uprooted millions of Syrians opposed to Assad’s rule.
In its first statement since the surprise campaign, the Syrian army said it had inflicted heavy losses on what it described as terrorists who had attacked on a wide front.
The army said it was cooperating with Russia and unnamed “friendly forces” to regain ground and restore the situation.
Rebels advanced almost 10 km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Aleppo city and a few kilometers away from Nubl and Zahra, two Shiite towns where Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong militia presence, an army source said.
They attacked Al-Nayrab airport east of Aleppo, where pro-Iranian militias have outposts.
Russian jets pounded newly captured areas and hit populated towns in the last opposition-held enclave, according to two army sources.
The opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said at least 16 civilians were killed in the rebel-held town of Atareb when a Russian jet bombed a residential area.
The main Aleppo-Damascus highway was closed as a result of the fighting, residents and witnesses said.
Rebels say the campaign responded to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air forces on areas in southern Idlib province, in Syria’s far northwest, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army, which they said was building up troops near front lines with rebels.