Russian Airstrikes Support Regime's Attempts to Recapture Hama

Russian Airstrikes Support Regime's Attempts to Recapture Hama
Accelerating military developments in northern Syria reveal the complexity of the field situation with multiple conflicting parties and their clashing interests
December 1, 2024, 8:26 pm

قصف روسي على أطراف مدينة إدلب/ المرصد السوري

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored Syrian regime forces' efforts to regain control over areas in Hama with Russian air support. The Observatory revealed to "Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath" that Russian air force executed intensive strikes on "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" positions in and around Aleppo.

Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath correspondent reported that "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" initiated an offer of safe withdrawal for Syrian Democratic Forces with their weapons from Aleppo, confirming the "organization's" approach to Kurds as brothers with pledges to protect them.

Syrian groups allied with Ankara continue to fight on two fronts near Aleppo in northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory, in an operation separate from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies' attacks.

Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, left regime forces' control on Sunday, after "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" and its allies took control of most of its neighborhoods, except for the northern areas with Kurdish majority under Kurdish fighters' control.

These factions surprised regime areas in Aleppo province and its surroundings on Wednesday, achieving rapid progress in the city and controlling its civilian airport along with dozens of towns in Idlib and Hama provinces, coinciding with the regime forces' gradual "withdrawal."

The Observatory reported a parallel attack launched by Turkish-backed groups on Saturday east of Aleppo, taking over the strategic towns of Al-Safira and Khanaser, and Kuwaires military airport, following confrontations with regime forces that resulted in nine of their fighters' deaths.

Clashes are ongoing in northern rural Aleppo between those militias led by the Al-Nusra Front organization and Kurdish fighters, the backbone of U.S.-backed SDF, centered in the Sheikh Najjar industrial area.

Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman explained that Ankara-loyal factions' operations aim to cut Kurdish forces' supply lines toward Manbij city, northeast of Aleppo. The Autonomous Administration denounced in a statement "Turkish operations and their mercenaries on Syrian territory," considering their goal to be "the partition of Syria."

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