Regime to Launch Russia-Backed Offensive to Retake Aleppo
The Russian air force and pro-government troops are preparing a joint operation to retake Aleppo from rebels, Syrian prime minister Wael al-Halqi said on Sunday, as a spokesperson for the opposition said the cessation of hostilities was near collapse.
Capturing Syria’s northernmost city and the country’s prewar economic hub would not only be huge blow to the opposition, but would allow pro-government forces to advance east toward Deir Ezzor.
“We, together with our Russian partners, are preparing for an operation to liberate Aleppo and to block all illegal armed groups which have not joined or have broken the cease-fire deal,” Halaki told a group of visiting Russian lawmakers, Reuters reports.
Russian airstrikes resumed over the weekend south of Aleppo, in an area where Iranian forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are fighting alongside government troops against the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, which has deployed in close proximity to other rebel groups.
The heavy fighting south of Aleppo has put the cease-fire in place since February 27 between government forces and those opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule on the verge of collapse, said Bassma Kodmani, a member of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
“Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the cease-fire is about to collapse … the use of barrel bombs has resumed.”
A total of 35 combatants were killed on both sides on Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
ISIS Under Fire From All Sides
The Islamic State group has suffered a series of setbacks as rival forces push to wrest territory from the extremists, the Associated Press reports.
Pro-government forces, rebel groups and Kurdish militia have all redoubled efforts to recapture land from ISIS, their moves given urgency by the possibility of a future federal system in Syria.
“The three sides are racing to grab as much of the pie as possible, not just at the expense of the Islamic State group but also … from other key players,” Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP.
ISIS has suffered across the country in recent weeks, losing the ancient city of Palmyra and the town of al-Qaryatain, both in Homs, to Russian-backed government forces.
In Aleppo last week, rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army captured the border town of al-Rai, ISIS’s main border crossing from Turkey. But in a surprise move on Sunday, ISIS militants retook the strategic crossing point.
In the northeast, the Syrian Democratic Forces – a mainly Kurdish militia – are advancing in the direction of the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province as government forces push toward the area in the south.
Assad Removal an Iranian ‘Red Line’
A top Iranian official said on Sunday that Tehran would not back a peace process that includes the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power, the Associated Press reports.
“Iran believes that the government of Bashar al-Assad should remain in power until the end of the presidency term,” said top Iranian adviser Ali Akbar Velayati.
Velayati’s statement comes as government warplanes, artillery and allied fighters struck rebel positions across northern Syria and the western city of Hama.
Pro-regime forces also reportedly launched a new offensive on the Jobar and Douma districts of Damascus.
Government helicopters reportedly dropped barrel bombs on the Handarat refugee camp and Castello Road in Aleppo and the opposition-held town of Ter Maeleh.
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- The Wall Street Journal: Syria Defies Russia in Bid to Keep Assad
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Top image: A Russian serviceman checks for mines in Palmyra on Friday, April 8, 2016, after Russian-backed government forces took the ancient city from ISIS militants. (Associated Press)