Violent fighting is taking place in northern Syria between regime forces and jihadists, who launched an offensive against government-controlled territories on Wednesday. These clashes, the most significant in several years, left more than 200 dead.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said it was facing a “vast attack” still underway in the Aleppo region. These are the “most violent” clashes in years in this sector, where the province of Aleppo, in the hands of the Bashar al-Assad regime, adjoins the last major rebel and jihadist stronghold of Idlib, according to the Observatory. Syrian Human Rights Organization (OSDH).
The jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda network which controls this last rebel stronghold in northwest Syria, launched an attack with allied factions.
The latest report provided by the OSDH shows 200 dead, mostly combatants, but also around twenty civilians.
External content
This external content cannot be displayed because it may collect personal data. To view this content you must authorize the category Infographics.
Accept More info
A blocked strategic axis
The fighting is also taking place near a highway linking Aleppo, the country’s second city, to the capital Damascus, which the jihadists are trying to reach to control this strategic axis. On Thursday, the jihadists and their allies cut this vital road, according to the organization.
In addition to rocket fire and “intense artillery fire”, the OSDH also indicated that “the Russian air force”, an ally of the regime, “had intensified its air strikes”, targeting in particular the surroundings of Sarmine in the Idlib region.
Agreement negotiated in 2020
Northern Syria has benefited in recent years from an uneasy calm made possible by a ceasefire established after a regime offensive in March 2020. The truce was sponsored by Moscow with Turkey, which supports certain Syrian rebel groups at its border.
The Syrian regime has regained control of a large part of the country with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies since the outbreak in 2011 of the conflict which left more than half a million dead and displaced millions of people.
afp/donate
Swiss
Related News :