The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia took part in the fighting, according to a regional source who is familiar with the military situation in Syria.
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Syrian state media and regional pro-government channels made no mention of new Russian strikes or the ground attacks on Wednesday.
Russian officials, for their part, said they would welcome talks with their Turkish counterparts to avoid “misunderstandings”.
He said the regime forces had not yet been able to advance and that the Army of Conquest alliance, the powerful grouping that includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and controls neighbouring Idlib province, was sending reinforcements to counter the assault.
Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Russian politics expert Richard Sakwa about what President Vladimir Putin is trying to do in Syria.
Opposition sources say that as well as regular regime troops, fighters from the Shabiha, the militia of the Alawite community from which the Syrian elite are drawn, have been building up numbers in Hama and Idlib.
Ankara summoned Russia’s ambassador for the third time in four days over the reported violations, which North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has said appeared to be deliberate and were “extremely unsafe”.
Syria said a major military operation was under way.
The missiles destroyed bomb-making factories, command posts, weapons and ammunition and fuel depots, as well as “terrorist training centres”, the TV said.
Russian Federation has spent a week delivering airstrikes at terrorist forces in Syria, conducting over 120 combat sorties.
Russian Federation says it is fighting Islamic State in Syria.
MWC News could not independently verify the reports of the air strikes.
“There is no information yet of any (government) advances on the ground, but the air strikes have hit vehicles and insurgent bases”, Abdulrahman said.
“There is a considerable and growing Russian Federation naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, more than 10 ships now, which is a bit out of the ordinary”, Douglas Lute told reporters ahead of a meeting of alliance defence ministers in Brussels.
Amid a dramatic escalation in its air war over Syria, Moscow said it was ready to establish contacts with Western-backed rebels, which the United States and its allies accuse Russian Federation of targeting in bombing raids.
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Russia’s strikes on Wednesday targeted the towns of Kafr Zita, Kafr Nabudah, al-Sayyad and the village of al-Latamneh in Hama province and the towns of Khan Shaykhun and Alhbit in Idlib, the Observatory said.
