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The Syrian Army has reportedly mounted a counteroffensive, pushing the terrorists back in some areas
Jihadist forces in Syria have claimed to have captured 56 villages in the western countryside of Aleppo province since launching a surprise offensive from the militant-controlled Idlib province on Wednesday.
The Syrian army is reportedly mounting a counteroffensive against the militants, using its air power advantage.
The Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, and assorted allies, are responsible for this week’s push into government-controlled parts of the country, according to Syrian media. The flare-up is the most significant in years since Russia and Türkiye helped establish a shaky truce in 2020.
The jihadists claim to have seized some 400 square kilometers of territory, reaching the outskirts of the city of Aleppo on Thursday, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Friday. They also claim to have captured heavy weaponry and other military hardware from the Syrian Army.
The Syrian military has launched a counterattack, forcing the militants to retreat in some areas, the Beirut-based TV channel Al Mayadeen reported on Friday. The terrorists were pushed out of some 20 villages, while Syrian warplanes conducted airstrikes on a militant HQ in the town of Mare’ in northern Aleppo, according to the outlet’s sources.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency shared footage of several strikes, which it said it received from a Syrian military source.
In 2015, Russia helped Damascus defeat various jihadists groups which were threatening to overrun the country and overturn the government after seizing large swathes of Syrian territory. The international intervention was a response to the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), a then-prominent terrorist organization that staged an incursion into neighboring Iraq in 2014.
Türkiye, which borders the Idlib province, has strongly objected to military offensives in that part of Syria, claiming it would inevitably cause a new mass exodus of refugees across the border into a region devastated by an earthquake in February 2023. As a result, HTS and other jihadist groups remained influential players in the province.
US-backed Syrian militias retain de fact control of an area in the north-east of the country. The US maintains an illegal military base in Syria.
