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.
Meanwhile, a member of Syria’s opposition has pledged to continue the fight until the government agrees to a political transition. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, the sixth day of a blistering rebel offensive that forced Syrian government forces out of the city of Aleppo, Istanbul-based opposition leader Hadi al-Bahri stated: “We are ready to negotiate starting tomorrow.”
To counter the rebels’ momentum, dozens of Iran-backed militias from Iraq crossed into Syria overnight to beef up the Syrian military’s defences, according to reports.
The militias include Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah and Fatimiyoun groups, one army official told Reuters news agency, noting they are being deployed to “aid our comrades on the front lines in the north”. Iran also plans to keep up military advisers in Syria, according to Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
Al-Assad’s main backers Russia and Iran have thrown their weight behind Syria’s government, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pledging to provide “all the support needed” to push back the rebels in a phone call with the Syrian leader.
He echoed comments from Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, who visited al-Assad on Sunday before travelling to Ankara, Turkiye, which backs a faction of Syria’s opposition.
“Given the consensus in most areas and differences of opinion with Turkiye in some cases, we hope to reach a common understanding that will bring stability to the region and prevent Syria from becoming the centre of terrorist groups again,” Araghchi was quoted by Iranian state media as saying.
In a joint news conference following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara continues to support Syria’s territorial integrity, adding that there is a “need for compromise between the Syrian government and opposition”.
Turkiye, which has supported opposition factions in Syria, on Monday rejected any suggestion that “foreign interference” was behind the offensive launched by the fighters in the country’s north.
“It would be a mistake at this time to try to explain the events in Syria by any foreign interference,” the Turkish foreign minister said, blaming instead an absence of dialogue between opposition groups and the government of al-Assad.
But the Syrian president says the opposition offensive was a bid to redraw the map of the region in line with the US interests.
“The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries in it and redraw the map in line with the objectives of the United States and the West,” al-Assad said in a statement from his office after phone calls with Iranian President Pezeshkian.
The latest fighting marks the most significant turn in years in Syria’s war, which began with popular uprisings across the country in 2011. Since 2020, the front lines have largely been stagnant with an array of opposition groups largely contained to a small portion of Idlib province.
But in just a matter of days, that changed abruptly, as HTS and its allies pressed into Aleppo and beyond, initially meeting little resistance.
“This is a major change,” Jean-Marc Rickli, head of global and emerging risks at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, told Al Jazeera. The opposition was “very well prepared”, facing an army that was “not very motivated or equipped”.
Ultimately, how successful the rebel operation turns out to be, Rickli said, will hinge on how far Russia, which provides Syria’s government with crucial air support, and Iran, whose militias are now in the fray, dig their heels in.
“To what extent these actors [Russia and Iran] will be willing to commit enough force to stop these different [opposition] factions, that’s a different story,” he said.