The Russian and Syrian air forces bombed rebel-held northwest Syria near the border with Turkey on Thursday to push back a rebel offensive that captured territory for the first time in years, Syrian army and rebel sources said.
Rebels led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Wednesday launched an incursion into a dozen towns and villages in northwest Aleppo province controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The attack was the biggest since March 2020 when Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkey, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire that ended years of fighting that uprooted millions of Syrians opposed to Assad's rule.
Rebels advanced almost 10 km from the outskirts of Aleppo city and a few kilometers away from Nubl and Zahra, two Shi'ite towns where Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong militia presence, an army source said.