Syrian and Russian jets launched airstrikes against opposition forces in northern Syria on Sunday. The move came in response to a sudden rebel offensive that has seized control of Aleppo, the country's second-largest city.
The offensive, carried out by opposition fighters led by the Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, also captured a strategic military base east of Aleppo and significant portions of Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
The rebels' sweeping success marks the most significant challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in eight years, reminiscent of the period before Russian air power shifted the tide of the civil war in his favor. The Syrian government has lost control of Aleppo for the first time since the civil war began.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), four people were killed and 50 injured in airstrikes on the northwestern city of Idlib. Strikes also targeted rural areas of Idlib and Hama, recently seized by the group leading the rebel offensive, SOHR reported.
The rebels have advanced south from Aleppo, capturing several towns in the countryside near Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, SOHR said.
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 when President al-Assad responded to pro-democracy protests with a harsh crackdown. Over time, rebel forces fractured into multiple groups, with HTS rising as a dominant faction.
Al-Assad relied heavily on support from Russia and Iran to reclaim territory lost during the early stages of the war.
The latest offensive has united various rebel factions, representing the remaining opposition groups in Syria, potentially shifting the balance of power in the war-torn nation.
During calls with regional leaders on Saturday, Assad said that Syria will continue "to defend its stability and territorial integrity in the face of all terrorists and their supporters." He added that the country was capable "with the help of its allies and friends, of defeating and eliminating them, no matter how intense their terrorist attacks are."
