HUNDREDS KILLED
In 2016, the Syrian military – supported by Russian air energy – recaptured rebel-held areas of Aleppo, a metropolis dominated by its landmark citadel.
Damascus additionally relied on Hezbollah fighters to regain swaths of Syria misplaced to rebels early within the battle, which started in 2011 when the federal government crushed protests. However Hezbollah has taken heavy losses in its battle with Israel.
Earlier than this offensive, HTS, led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria department, already managed swaths of the Idlib area, the final main insurgent bastion within the northwest.
HTS additionally held elements of the neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
The newest preventing has killed greater than 412 folks, principally combatants but additionally together with no less than 61 civilians, in response to the Observatory, which has a community of sources inside Syria.
The Observatory mentioned insurgent advances met little resistance.
It mentioned Sunday the military strengthened its positions round Syria’s fourth largest metropolis Hama, about 230km south of Aleppo, and despatched reinforcements to the north of the encompassing province.
Rebels have taken dozens of cities throughout the north, together with Khan Sheikhun and Maaret al-Numan, roughly midway between Aleppo and Hama, the Observatory mentioned.
The air strikes on elements of Aleppo had been the primary since 2016. One resident instructed AFP most locals had been “holed up at residence”.