Russian military planes bomb northwestern Syria in biggest attack in six months

Russian military jets shelled rebel-held northwestern Syria on Sunday. The attack is the largest in six months since the agreement between Turkey and Russia to stop major fighting, Syrian opposition sources said.

According to witnesses, the fighter jets targeted the outskirts of Idlib, and the Jabal al Zawya region, south of Idlib, was attacked with heavy artillery from nearby Syrian outposts. No casualties were reported.

“These 30 raids are by far the toughest attack so far since the ceasefire agreement,” said Mohammed Rasheed, a former rebel spokesman.

Tracking centers also said that Russian Sukhoi planes also struck areas west of Idlib. According to them, unidentified drones also attacked two rebel-held cities in the Sahel al-Ghab plain, west of Hama province.

Moscow and the Syrian army have not issued a statement.

In the civil war that began in 2011, Russia supports the Syrian government, and the United States supports Kurdish fighters. Russia, which is on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, has long opposed the US military presence in the country.

In October 2019, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw 1,000 soldiers operating in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. A few months later, Trump said that he had decided to keep several hundred soldiers in the country to protect the oil wells.

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