A Russian Su-24 aircaft on a runway at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria. © Maksim Blinov / Sputnik
On May 30, a new wave of Russian airstrikes hit the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, where the Turkish military maintains a large presence.
The airstrikes reportedly destroyed a command post of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de-facto ruler of Greater Idlib, located near the town of Bzabor in the southern countryside of Idlib. Footage that surfaced on Twitter showed the post being hit by at least four munitions.
This was the second wave of Russian airstrikes to hit Greater Idlib in less than a week. On May 26, pinpoint airstrikes targeted command and control positions, ammunition depots and barracks of HTS and its allies in the outskirts of the towns of Fleifel and Sufuhon in the southern Idlib countryside.
The airstrikes on Greater Idlib came in response to a series of ceasefire violations by HTS and its allies, the most recent of which was a drone attack that targeted the government-held town of Khan Shikhun in the southern Idlib countryside on May 25.
A source in HTS told the North Press Agency on May 29 that the group killed 40 Syrian service members and wounded 30 others in different attacks this month.
While these claims are nothing but a propaganda stunt, they do show how HTS has been working to undermine the ceasefire in Greater Idlib that was brokered by Russia and Turkey more than three years ago.
The terrorist group escalated its attack in December as the Turkish-Syrian normalization process, which is backed by Russia and Iran, began to gain momentum. The group fears that any agreement between Ankara and Damascus will result in a Turkish military withdrawal from Greater Idlib.
Damascus and its allies ignored HTS’s provocative behavior for the last five months, likely to facilitate the talks with Ankara. Now however, the terrorist group is being punished.
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