Photo: Russian Defense Ministry
On July 6, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted three airstrikes on targets around the town of Jisr al-Shughur in the northwestern Idlib countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The pro-opposition monitoring group said that several militants of the radical Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) were injured as a result of the airstrikes.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) artillery also shelled several positions of the former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in the town of al-Lataminah the northern Hama countryside.
These strikes are likely a response to an attack on Hmeimim airbase which occurred a day earlier. According to Syrian pro-government sources, several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacked the airbase. However, Russian air defense systems were able to shot down them.
Local observers believe that Russia and the Damascus government may resume their military operations in the northern governorate of Idlib, if the militants there continue to violate the de-escalation agreement. Such a development will likely put an end to ambition of the Syrian opposition, which is about to lose southern Syria.
