10 dead in Syria regime raids on IS-held town: monitor

The Russian intervention marks in a new phase in the war, intensifying fighting in the country’s west and northwest between rebels and pro-government forces also backed by Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups say that a coalition of rebel fighters regained control over the village of Atshan in Hama province on Friday.

While certain Western and non-Western countries insist that Assad can not be part of any future government in Syria, Iran and Russian Federation say only Syrian people are to decide about such internal Syrian issues. Despite more than 1,000 combat sorties by Russian aircraft hitting more than 2,000 targets, government forces’ gains have been minimal. The air group in Syria includes more than 50 warplanes, including Su-34 and Su-24M bombers; Su-25 assault aircraft; Su-30SM fighter jets as well as Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters. Friday’s official confirmation shows another worrying escalation in Syria’s civil war, which has already killed 250,000 people and forced millions to flee.

According to the spokesman, the terrorists are trying to implement so-called mobile defense tactics, regularly relocating their positions “in an attempt to hide from strikes, by both Syrian government troops and Russian air forces”.

Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 4 November that “Russia is fielding its own artillery and other ground assets around Hamah and Homs, greatly increasing their soldiers’ vulnerability to counterattack”. Backed by the strikes, Syrian troops have been trying to reach Kweiras and break the siege.

IS fighters have lashed back. Morek lies on the main north-south highway that links Syria’s main cities, the capital Damascus and Aleppo. Assad’s forces battled for two weeks and finally took back the road Wednesday.

“The regime is collapsing and only the Russians are propping them up”, said Ahmed Saoud, a commander in the 13th Division, another American-based FSA faction that has gotten new infusions of TOWS and ammunition.