Syria in flames: jihadist militias advance despite Assad's counteroffensive
The insurgents claimed to have taken control of 14 other major towns and cities. In turn, President Assad's army captured a town it had lost a day earlier, while Russia increases its presence in the area to help the Syrian government. Israel eliminated a Hezbollah envoy to Syria.
Jihadi rebels next to military equipment abandoned by Syrian government forces.
Jihadist rebels in Syria captured four new locations in the country and are now only about 10 kilometers from the city of Hama, members of the opposition forces said, while government troops of Bashar Al-Assad managed to partially regain territory they had lost in the fighting that began last week, the AP agency reported.
This comes after Islamist rebels took control of the city of Aleppo, Syria's second-largest, as well as other locations in southern parts of the northwestern province of Idlib.
The jihadists said they captured 14 other major towns and cities, including Halfaya, Taybat al-Imam, Maardis and Soran, which was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an organization opposed to the Assad government that monitors the war in Syria.
The jihadists added that they killed about 50 soldiers of the government forces.
This is the latest offensive by the jihadist rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham organization, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and Ahrar Al-Sham, a coalition of several extremist Islamist groups.
Meanwhile, Assad's forces retook the village of Khanaser, which lies on one of the roads leading to Aleppo, days after losing it, according to pro-regime media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Kurds, who also oppose the Assad regime, claimed in a statement that they captured seven villages, something denied by Syrian state media, which reported that the attacks were successfully repelled.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organization, warned that some areas in northern Syria are suffering food shortages.
The government of Turkey, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which backs the jihadist rebels, has called on Syrian authorities to engage in a "genuine political process" to de-escalate the situation.
It should be noted that in January 2018, Turkey invaded Syria during Operation Olive Branch with the aim of driving Kurdish separatists away from the region and established a buffer zone on the Turkish-Syrian border near the last rebel stronghold in Syria: the province of Idlib.
Russian support for the Assad government
Russia announced Tuesday that it launched supersonic missiles as part of naval and air drills in the eastern Mediterranean as its ally Assad continues to lose territory to attacks by Islamist jihadists
Moscow added that it had reinforced its presence in the region to support the exercises.
In recent days, Russia has carried out airstrikes alongside Assad's forces in a bid to counter attacks by jihadist rebels.
Will Iran send troops to Syria to help Assad?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday that his country would consider sending soldiers to Syria if the Assad regime, an ally of Tehran, requests it, Qatari television channel Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported. He added that he plans to visit Russia for discussions about the situation.
Israel eliminates Hezbollah's envoy to the Syrian Army in Damascus
Salman Nimr Jamaa, envoy of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah sent to the Syrian Army, was eliminated on Tuesday in an Israeli bombing in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
The Syrian regime has supported Hezbollah over the years and allows its territory to be used so that Iran can send weapons to the terrorist group so it can attack Israel.
LATEST
