Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the centre of Idlib, the largest city in a rebel enclave near the Turkish border, where about 4 million people live in makeshift tents and dwellings.
Iran has been a key political and military ally of Assad in Syria’s long-running civil war, but it was unclear how Tehran would support Damascus in this latest flare-up, which began on Wednesday.
An abandoned Syrian army tank on a highway on the outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun, south-west of Aleppo.Credit: AP
Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib, before moving towards neighbouring Hama province.
On Sunday, government troops created a “strong defensive line” in northern Hama as they attempted to stall the insurgents’ momentum, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor. Meanwhile, jets pounded Idlib and Aleppo, killing at least 15 people, said a group that operates in opposition-held areas.
The total death toll from Syrian and Russian strikes since November 27 had climbed to 56, including 20 children, the White Helmets said in a statement on X.
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The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent, destabilising front reopening in the Middle East as Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, conflicts that have repeatedly threatened to ignite an even wider regional war. It also risks drawing Russia and Turkey – each with its own interests to protect in Syria – into direct heavy fighting against each other.
The insurgents announced their offensive on Wednesday, just as a ceasefire between the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and Israel began, raising hope that tensions in the region might calm.
The surprise offensive is a huge embarrassment for Assad, and it comes when his allies – Iran and groups it backs and Russia – are preoccupied with their own conflicts.
A statement from Assad’s office quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying Tehran was ready to support Damascus in its counteroffensive against the insurgency.
Araghchi appeared in a photograph with Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh in Tehran. However, Iranian state media also released a clip purportedly showing Araghchi dining in a restaurant in Damascus.
A Syrian opposition fighter photographs a comrade stepping on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.Credit: AP
Arab leaders including Jordan’s King Abdullah and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have also called Assad to express their solidarity.
The insurgents took over most of Aleppo on Saturday and made gains in the surrounding province, including capturing a military academy and a strategic town on the highway linking the city with Damascus and the coast.
They also took control of the city’s main water pumping station, which is no longer working, said Syrian Water Resources Minister Moataz Qattan on the pro-government radio station Sham FM.
Rebel commander Colonel Hassan Abdulghani said the insurgents advanced in the countryside around Idlib, putting the province of the same name under their control.
They also claimed to have entered the city of Hama, but there was no independent confirmation of that.
Abdulghani said 65 Syrian troops were taken prisoner in eastern Aleppo.
In Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, military vehicles abandoned by Syrian troops dotted roads. People posed and took pictures of themselves on an abandoned tank on a highway, while insurgents grabbed munitions and shells from them before continuing to push deeper into the country.
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The insurgents vowed to push all the way into Damascus, but life in the Syrian capital remained normal, with no signs of panic. In south-eastern Aleppo, however, the main road out of the city was gridlocked as people fled the fighting, and petrol stations in the area were short on fuel.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union programthat the US, which has about 900 troops in Syria, is watching the situation carefully. The American forces, which are in the north-east and far from Aleppo, are guarding against a resurgence by the extremist Islamic State group.
The group leading the rebel advance is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, and Sullivan said Washington has “real concerns about the designs and objectives of that organisation”.
“At the same time, of course, we don’t cry over the fact that the Assad government, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, are facing certain kinds of pressure,” he said.
Syrian state news agency SANA and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that overnight the army pushed back insurgents in the northern countryside of Hama province.
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh (left) and Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Tehran last month.Credit: AP
Syrian state media said government resupply included heavy equipment and rocket launchers while Syrian and Russian airstrikes targeted weapon depots and insurgent strongholds.
Sham FM reported the Syrian army shot down drones belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in northern Hama.
Syrian state television claimed government forces had killed nearly 1000 insurgents over the past three days, without providing evidence or details.
AP, Reuters
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