Russian jets strike jihadists near Aleppo and Idlib in Syria – military

More than 400 terrorists have been killed in a wave of airstrikes, a Russian colonel has said

Syrian and Russian forces have killed more than 400 jihadists in a series of airstrikes near the cities of Aleppo and Idlib, the Russian military has announced. The terrorists had launched a surprise counteroffensive against government troops on Wednesday.

The body count was announced on Friday by Colonel Oleg Ignatiuk, the deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. Ignatiuk’s announcement came after Syrian media claimed that Russian and Syrian warplanes had bombed terrorist targets in dozens of locations throughout Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

The Syrian Arab Army claimed that the strikes have inflicted devastating losses on the jihadists.

The Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group – formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra – and a collection of allied militias, attacked government-controlled territory in northern Syria on Wednesday, breaking a fragile truce established by Russia and Türkiye in 2020.

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Indirectly armed by the US and allegedly backed by Türkiye, Jabhat al-Nusra was one of the main factions opposing Bashar Assad’s government during the war in Syria. Russia intervened in the conflict in 2015, helping Assad to retake much of the country from Jabhat al-Nusra, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), and dozens of US-supported armed groups considered “moderate rebels” by Washington.

The jihadists claim to have seized some 400 square kilometers of territory, reaching the outskirts of the city of Aleppo on Thursday, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Friday. They also claim to have captured heavy weaponry and other military hardware from the Syrian Army.

As news of the airstrikes broke, the Beirut-based TV channel Al Mayadeen reported that the Syrian military had forced the jihadists to retreat in some areas.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considers the terrorist offensive “an attack on Syria’s sovereignty in the region,” and wants the “Syrian authorities to restore order there as soon as possible.”