The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied factions launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo.
The rebels made their first territorial gains on Wednesday since a ceasefire took effect in 2020, according to a Syrian war monitor on Thursday. It marked the fiercest fighting in the country’s northwest in years.
According to the Observatory, the number of casualties “in battles ongoing for the past 24 hours has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS,” 18 from allied factions “and 49 members of regime forces.”
Some of the clashes in the area covering Idlib and Aleppo provinces are taking place less than 10 kilometres southwest of the outskirts of Aleppo city. HTS, led by former Syrian affiliate Al-Qaeda, reportedly controls much of northwestern Idlib and parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
The villages have strategic importance due to their proximity to the M5 international highway. [The factions are] trying to cut the Aleppo-Damascus international highway.
The HTS managed to advance in Idlib province, taking control of Dadikh, Kafr Batikh and Sheikh Ali “after heavy clashes” with Syria covered by Russian aviation. The Observatory added that “Russian warplanes intensified air strikes,” targeting the neighbourhood of Sarmin and other areas of Idlib province, along with “heavy artillery shelling” and rocket attacks.
The Idlib region is under a ceasefire agreement, which has been repeatedly violated but mostly respected, brokered by Turkey and Damascus ally Russia since the Syrian government’s offensive in March 2020. However, military experts believe that the rise of hostilities in Syria could be an attempt to weaken Russia’s influence in the region amid the escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine.
