JERUSALEM – The radical Islamist group launched its biggest military offensive against Syrian government forces since 2020 in the war-torn northwest of the Syrian Arab Republic, with Russian and Syrian warplanes launching bombing raids on Thursday.
Rebels led by the American-designated Islamist terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have stormed a dozen towns and villages northwest of Aleppo, which is held by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
The attack on Syrian Islamists began on the same day Assad’s ally, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah, reached a ceasefire agreement with Israel to end more than 14 months of fighting.
The ongoing war in Syria involves a group of US sponsors of terrorism – the Assad regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran – against a terrorist organization based in Turkey. Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime has faced allegations of war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.
NEARLY 30,000 CHILDREN SUFFERING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SYRIA, UNCRIMINAL COMMISSION SAYS
Smoke rises amid clashes between opposition groups and Syrian government forces in Majdaliya, in the countryside of Idlib, Syria, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Former US Defense Secretary Rebekah Koffler, a Putin expert, told Fox News Digital, “This is Putin’s old playbook, what happened in Syria, on Thanksgiving Day. He did what is called a lateral escalation in Syria, in response to Biden giving permission [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky is using US ATACMs to strike deep into Russia, and Zelensky is taking Biden up on his offer. Russia and the United States are on opposite sides of the war in Syria. So Putin is rallying support for Assad, which is against American policy, signaling to Biden that he will be fighting American interests on many fronts. “
Anti-regime groups took control of some villages in the western countryside as clashes between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the opposition Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group continued in Aleppo, Syria on Wednesday. (Kasim Rammah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Koffler added, “Putin is putting pressure on Biden to withdraw authorization from Zelensky to use ATACMs against Russia. The doctrine is ‘growing to shrink.’ With the latest Oreshnik missile strike in Ukraine, Putin climbed a few steps on the ascending ladder Biden, and hold talks in Ukraine before President Trump starts his second term I wouldn’t be surprised if Assad attacks rebel-held areas again with chemical weapons.”
Alex Grinberg, an Israeli expert on Russia, told Fox News Digital that the rest of Assad’s army cannot fight Hayat Tahrir al-Sham without Russian air power.
He said this is “typically what the Russians are doing” in Syria.
ISRAEL KEPT ‘EYES OPEN’ TO IRANIAN ATTACKS DURING TRUMP, AMBASSADOR SAYS.
Iranian government-controlled state media said Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Kioumars Pourhashemi was killed in Aleppo during an attack. Pourhashemi was the IRGC’s top military adviser in Syria.
Anti-regime groups have taken control of some villages in the western countryside as clashes between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the opposition Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group continued in Aleppo, Syria on Wednesday. (Kasim Rammah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Islamic rebels said the operation was aimed at increasing strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air forces in areas south of Idlib, and to prevent any attack by the Syrian army, which it said had built up troops near the area. lines and rebels.
Assad’s war against his own people, which began when Syrians demanded democracy in 2011, has resulted in the deaths of more than 500,000 people.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Iran sent thousands of fighters to Syria during the Syrian war. Although these included members of the Guard, who officially served as advisers, the majority were Shi’ite militias from across the region.
Turkish security sources said on Thursday that the rebels had launched a limited operation after being attacked by Syrian government forces, and were expanding the operation after government forces left their positions.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Source link
