Syrian army makes new gains as Russia brings reinforcements - rebels, residents
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Russia and its Syrian army ally stepped up aerial raids on northwest Syria as they sent reinforcements from elite army units and Iranian-backed militias to bolster a major offensive against the last big rebel stronghold, opposition sources, army defectors and residents said on Friday.
The Russian-led alliance took the town of Khwain, Zarzoor and Tamanah farms in southern Idlib, pushing closer into densely populated parts of Idlib province where millions of people who fled fighting elsewhere in Syria have taken refuge.
They were the first gains since the alliance seized a main rebel pocket in nearby Hama province last week.
Jets flying in high altitudes believed to be Russian according to activists who track warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of the heavily populated Idlib city, the capital of the province.
Opposition sources say hundreds of troops from the country's elite Republican Guards, led by President Bashar al Assad's brother Maher al-Assad that defends the capital Damascus alongside fighters from Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, were deployed in the frontlines of southern Idlib province.
"There are daily reinforcements coming from the Iranian militias, elite Republican Guards units and Fourth Armoured Division," Colonel Mustafa Bakour, a commander in Jaish al Izza rebel group, told Reuters.
