45 min ago
This weekend, the Russian Federation’s air force attacked the Syrian region of Idlib, one of the last pockets of resistance to the government of Bachar al-Assad and a fiefdom of the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The bombings by President al-Assad’s ally are a response to the offensive that took the Syrian leader by surprise and allowed the rebels to retake a large part of Aleppo, the scene of a violent battle that resulted in the victory of government troops in 2016.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the attacks in Idlib left at least 10 dead and dozens injured. Meanwhile, HTS rebels advanced towards the city of Hamas in west-central Syria.
In addition to support from Syria, Bashar al-Assad can also count on the support of Iran, a close ally of Damascus. The leader of Iranian diplomacy was in the Syrian capital this Sunday, where he acknowledged that the latest developments on the ground represent “a difficult situation.”
