Syria, Russia forces step up air raids in a bid to slow opposition advance
Al Jazeera
Joint Syrian-Russian strikes hit residential areas in Idlib city, causing destruction and killing several civilians.
Syrian and Russian jets have intensified air attacks in Idlib city and positions in Aleppo as the government of President Bashar al-Assad tries to slow the advance of opposition fighters.
The raids on Monday followed big gains by the opposition over the past few days that has greatly shifted the front line in Syria’s long-running war.
The dramatic advance by a coalition of Syrian opposition groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has somewhat slowed in the past 24 hours, according to Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from the Turkish-Syrian border.
“The advances by the Syrian opposition continue on the battlefront, but not as fast as before. The acceleration is down as the diplomatic efforts to discuss the crisis have risen within the last two days,” Koseoglu said.
However, opposition fighters are still on the outskirts of Hama, south of Aleppo. Elsewhere, they have seized most of the city of Tel Rifaat, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow Kurds to safely evacuate.
