Armed clashes between the forces of the Syrian regime and the opposition military group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began on November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in "response to months of continuous attacks on civilians" by the Assad regime in Aleppo province.
This is reported by the Syrian media organization L24 and the Turkish Anadolu agency.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham troops took control of several villages in the western part of Aleppo province, which were under the control of the Assad regime. The forces of the latter launched rocket attacks on the city of Darat Izza in the province of Aleppo. Meanwhile, Russian jets struck the village of Orem Al-Sugra in the west of the province after the Assad regime lost control of it. Before that, the Russians were fighting on the outskirts of the city of Atarib.
Green is the territory controlled by the opposition, and red is the Assad regime.
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The military commander of the Command of Military Operations (CMO) in Idlib, Hassan Abdulghani, said that this was the beginning of an "operation to deter aggression" aimed at disrupting the enemyʼs plans by pre-emptively striking their positions. This comes just after the Assad regime allegedly shelled a boarding school in the city of Ariha with artillery on November 26, killing three children and injuring 14 civilians.
According to Abdulghani, it is their duty to protect the people in the areas controlled by HTS forces, and the goal is to return the displaced people to their homes.
The Military Operations Command says the current offensive follows months of escalation by the Bashar al-Assad regime, Iranian militias and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which have shelled civilian areas with artillery, rockets and FPV drone attacks, resulting in deaths and injuries, and also displacement of over 70,000 people. All this intensified the humanitarian crisis in northern Syria.
The civil war in Syria has been going on since 2011. It began as a local civil confrontation, which gradually turned into an uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Over time, it involved not only the main states of the region, but also international organizations, military-political groups and other countries.
The main participants in the conflict are regular military formations that support President Bashar Assad, formations of the "moderate" Syrian opposition, Kurdish regionalists, as well as various terrorist groups. The parties to the conflict receive military aid from other countries: government forces are supported by Russia and Iran, while the Syrian opposition receives aid from Western countries, Turkey and the Gulf monarchies.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah also aided the Assad regime in the civil war and had a presence in Syria. However, it has now concentrated its forces in Lebanon to repel the Israeli offensive in the south of the country. During this conflict, Hezbollah lost thousands of fighters, as well as its commanders and leader Hassan Nasrallah.
As for Russiaʼs support, it has come to the aid of President Bashar Assad since 2011. Russia sent weapons to the country, which were accumulated by the Syrian troops, and also kept its own military bases with weapons there. In 2015, the Russians began to fight on the territory of Syria together with Hezbollah fighters. Now, videos and photos are being circulated on social networks, in which fighters from the Syrian opposition have allegedly captured Russian military equipment, including machine guns and tanks.
Meanwhile, revolutionary forces say they plan to push forward and regain lost territory.
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