Army continues to advance in Aleppo countryside

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The Syrian army advances in Aleppo countryside alongside with locals.
Syrian army recaptures territory north of Aleppo in fierce fighting Reuters

 

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Head fer the hills - the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming...

Thousands of Syrians Flee Aleppo Countryside
October 20, 2015 — Thousands of Syrian villagers are fleeing homes in the countryside south of Aleppo in the face of a government ground assault backed by Russian airstrikes, one of four major offensives mounted since Russia’s military intervention in the long-running Syrian civil war. The three other offensives are focused mainly on rural areas in the provinces of Homs, Hama and Latakia.

Three weeks into the Russian air campaign, no ground assault has been launched by government forces in major rebel-held urban areas. Militia commanders say they suspect the strategy of the government of President Bashar al-Assad is focused on stretching the rebels, seizing control of key highways and encircling larger insurgent-held towns in northern Syria. In the countryside south of Aleppo U.N. officials estimate about 35,000 villagers are on the move, escaping relentless and often indiscriminate Russian bombing raids around the villages of Khan, Tuman and al-Hader.

Smoke is seen rising over Saif Al Dawla district, in Aleppo, Syria.​

Villages empty

Zaidoun al-Zoabi, head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations, estimates the numbers of fleeing villagers are higher. In an interview with the BBC, he said several villages he had visited in Aleppo’s countryside were empty. “We saw only people who do not have even tents, any shelter, whatever. People were asking for some food, sandwiches even. There is no medical support,” al-Zoabi said. He estimates the number of displaced at about 70,000 people. “The shelling is so fierce. The sky was filled with jet fighters, with helicopters, and people are terribly scared. They are scared to death,” he added.

Some government gains

Syria: areas of control, as of Sept. 27, 2015​

Government forces, backed by foreign Shi'ite militiamen, remain stalled with their offensives in Hama and Homs, partly thanks to a U.S. resupply of anti-tank TOW missiles, rebels say. But the offensive in the Aleppo countryside that started Friday is seeing some early government gains. The ground offensive around Aleppo is believed to have been planned by General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the elite branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who reportedly traveled earlier this month from Latakia with Russian military commanders to al-Safira to plot the early phases of the offensive.

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Activists: Russian Airstrikes Have Killed Nearly 400 in Syria
October 20, 2015 - Russia's airstrikes in Syria have killed nearly 400 people, nearly a third of them civilians, since the campaign began three weeks ago, activist groups said Tuesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said hundreds of Russian airstrikes over the past three weeks have killed 370 people, including 243 rebel fighters from Islamic State as well as al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, and 127 civilians. The group said the dead civilians included 36 children and 34 women. Russia targeted the rebel-held Jabal al-Akrad region in Latakia province Monday. Its airstrikes killed at least 45 people, including rebel commander Basel Zimmo, who formerly served in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army, said the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist-run monitoring group.

A target hit during a Russian air raid in Syria. Russian Defense Ministry said the strike was performed by an Su-24M bomber in Idlib.​

The strikes also wounded scores, making it one of the deadliest assault's since Moscow joined the conflict September 30. Russia has said it is targeting the Islamic State group and other "terrorists," but Syrian rebels and their supporters accuse Moscow of targeting moderate and Islamist rebels in a bid to bolster the Assad regime. Since the airstrikes began, Syrian troops and their allies from Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group also have launched ground offensives in northern, central and southern Syria as well as the in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

Supported by the airstrikes, the ground troops have been able to capture areas formerly held by insurgents. Jabal al-Akrad is close to the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, which has been targeted by Russian warplanes. Syria's conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed more than 250,000 people, wounded a million and displaced half the country's population.

Activists: Russian Airstrikes Have Killed Nearly 400 in Syria