Syrian Regime Deploys Huge Reinforcements to Aleppo Countryside

A member of the Ankara-backed factions during military exercises in the Aleppo countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A member of the Ankara-backed factions during military exercises in the Aleppo countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Syrian Regime Deploys Huge Reinforcements to Aleppo Countryside

A member of the Ankara-backed factions during military exercises in the Aleppo countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A member of the Ankara-backed factions during military exercises in the Aleppo countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias pushed massive reinforcements to northeast Aleppo, accompanied by hovering Russian helicopters.

Opposition activist Jihad Shihabi said regime forces and Iranian militias sent a large military convoy to the front lines on the axes of Tal Rahal, Tal Zwayan, and Daghlbash, in the vicinity of al-Bab city.

The city is under control of Turkish forces and the Syrian National Army factions.

Shihabi added that the military reinforcements include Syrian soldiers, militias loyal to Iran, and a large number of tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and military logistical equipment.

He added that two Russian helicopters flew overhead amid the deployment. They took off from the al-Assad Military Academy in southern Aleppo and the Kuweires military airbase east of the city.

Meanwhile, the Syrian National Army factions continued their military mobilization and combat readiness to launch a military operation against the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Tal Rifaat area northwest of Aleppo.

Violent clashes erupted between pro-Turkish factions and the Kurdish factions on the Kafr Khasher front in the northern countryside of Aleppo after Kurdish groups attempted to infiltrate opposition positions in the area.

A leader in the armed Syrian opposition factions said that Turkish military bases and forces in the southern and eastern Idlib countrysides are on alert, while new Turkish military reinforcements are dispatched to Banin, al-Bara, al-Naiyrab, and Taftanaz.

Opposition factions in the al-Fateh al-Mubin operations room are also on alert in anticipation of any attack.

In recent days, the military forces have sent three large military convoys, of about 230 vehicles, including tanks, heavy artillery, rocket launchers, cars carrying ammunition and cement blocks, through the Kafr Lusin border crossing into Syrian territory.

The reinforcements were sent to more than six Turkish military points near Maarat al-Numan and in the vicinity of Saraqib.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that regime forces renewed their ground attack on the de-escalation area with missile and heavy machine gun fire on areas in al-Barah and al-Futirah in Jabal al-Zawiyah in the southern Idlib countryside. No casualties were reported.

On Saturday, the Observatory reported that a regime soldier was killed and a child was injured in rocket fire by opposition factions in the Jurin neighborhood.

The targeted area hosts Jurin camp, the military base used by regime forces in Sahl al-Ghab in the Hama countryside.



Israeli Strikes Hit Dozens of Targets in Gaza as Ceasefire Efforts Stall

A man looks through the rubble to inspect a destroyed building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2025. (AFP)
A man looks through the rubble to inspect a destroyed building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Hit Dozens of Targets in Gaza as Ceasefire Efforts Stall

A man looks through the rubble to inspect a destroyed building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2025. (AFP)
A man looks through the rubble to inspect a destroyed building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli airstrikes hit around 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said on Friday, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it said fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war.

Last month, the Israeli military broke off a two-month truce that had largely halted fighting in Gaza and has since pushed in from the north and south, seizing almost a third of the enclave as it seeks to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release hostages and disarm.

The military said troops were operating in the Shabura and Tel Al-Sultan areas near the southern city of Rafah, as well as in northern Gaza, where it has taken control of large areas east of Gaza City.

Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza, but there has been little sign that the two sides have moved closer on fundamental issues.

Late on Thursday, Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas' Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.

But he dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing "impossible conditions".

Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya's comments but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. The ceasefire offer it made through Egyptian mediators includes talks on a final settlement to the war but no firm agreement.

Defense Minister Israel Katz also said this week that troops would remain in the buffer zone around the border that now extends deep into Gaza and cuts the enclave in two, even after any settlement.