© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have responded to recent attacks by Turkey’s proxies in the western and northern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo that left eleven people dead and wounded ten others
In the morning of May 13, Turkish-backed militants targeted a bus of the Syrian National Defense Forces (NDF) near the town of Anjara in the western Aleppo countryside with an anti-tank guided missile, killing ten fighters and wounding nine others.
Later in the afternoon, the militants shelled the funeral of the NDF fighters that was taking place in in a cemetery near the Shiite towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa in the northern countryside of Aleppo. A child was killed, while another was wounded as a result of the shelling.
The deadly attacks were a blatant violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey more than two years ago.
In an apparent response to the attacks, the SAA shelled a position of the Turkish military located in the outskirts of the town of Sheikh Suleiman in the western Aleppo countryside late on May 13. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, two Turkish service members were wounded.
Early on May 14, VKS warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on the western outskirts of the 111th Regiment base in the western countryside of Aleppo. Turkish-backed militants carried out the deadly missile attack from this area.
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- Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
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- Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
This was the second wave of Russian airstrikes to hit Turkish-backed militants after the attacks. Immediately after the first attack, VKS warplanes carried out four airstrikes on the outskirts of the town of Kafr Janneh in the northern Aleppo countryside. The airstrikes targeted a headquarters of the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad Division. Two militants were wounded.
The Syrian and Russian strikes wont be the last response to the recent attacks. The NDF branch in Nubl and al-Zahraa, which has close ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, will likely respond in its own way very soon.
Turkish-backed militants in Greater Idlib and Turkish-occupied areas in the northern Aleppo countryside were recently emboldened as a result of the operational freedom and military support granted to them by Turkey.
While the SAA and its allies will not likely launch major ground operations in these regions anytime soon, they will for sure respond with brute force to deter Turkish-backed militants.
