Russia Strikes Syrian Rebel Stronghold, Raising Fears of Assad Regime Offensive by Jared Malsin and Nazih Osseiran – Wall Street Journal
Russian aircraft carried out strikes on the last rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria early Thursday, according to a monitoring group and rescue workers, raising fears of an all-out Syrian regime offensive to retake the area following a Moscow-brokered border deal with Turkey.
The airstrikes targeted the Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces amid intense artillery shelling and rocket fire, according to the independent Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Russian strikes raised fears that Idlib was part of a broader bargain agreement between Moscow and Ankara to delineate their influence in Syria. Terms of the main pact were announced after Tuesday’s summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and covered a large Kurdish-controlled area in Syria’s northeast. While Idlib wasn’t part of the agreement, Turkish officials have said they feared that securing Russia’s support to establish a safe zone in the northeast could invite a resumed offensive by Russian aircraft and Syrian regime troops on Idlib…