Syria’s military has said its joint airstrikes with Russia have killed at least 400 insurgents over the past 24 hours – as Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his support for Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
The strikes are being carried outafter insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham and including Turkey-backed fighters launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, on Saturday.
The rebels then moved into the countryside around the provinces of Idlib and neighbouring Hama.
Syrian and Russian airstrikes have mainly been carried out on rebel positions in those two provinces, Syria’s military said.
Syria’s opposition-run White Helmets rescue service said on Monday that at least 25 people, including 10 children, have been killed in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia.
It comes as Mr Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke in a phone call about the “escalating situation” in Syria, the Kremlin said.
Image: People walk past a damaged site in Aleppo. Pic: Reuters
The pair, who are both longtime allies of the Syrian president, discussed “large-scale aggression” by rebel fighters which they viewed “as an attempt to undermine the sovereignty, political, and socio-economic stability of the Syrian state”, a statement read.
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Mr Putin and Mr Pezeshkian expressed their “unconditional support” for the Syrian government, it added.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday: “We, of course, continue to support (Syrian president) Bashar Assad, we continue our contacts at the appropriate level and analyse the situation.
“A position will be formed regarding what is needed to stabilise the situation.”
Separately, Mr Pezeshkian told Mr Assad in a phone call that Tehran is willing to provide all the support needed to push back the insurgency.
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Rebels seen by Aleppo air defences
It came as Syria’s military said on Monday that government forces were mobilising to encircle rebels in the countryside of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib.
Meanwhile, two Syrian army sources told Reuters that Iran-backed militant groups had entered Syria from Iraq.
They added that the Iraqi militants were heading north to bolster Syrian army forces battling rebels.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition war monitor, some 200 Iraqi militiamen riding on pickups crossed into Syria overnight through the strategic Bou Kamal crossing.
They were expected to deploy in Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s pushback against the insurgents, the monitor said.
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Rebels post video of gun fight at prison
The push by the rebels in the north of the country is among their strongest in years and raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when US-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – both Iran-allied groups
It also risks drawing Russia and Turkey – each with its own interests to protect in Syria – into direct confrontation.
The advance by the insurgents is also huge embarrassment for Mr Assad, and it comes at a time when his allies – Iran and the groups it backs, and Russia – are preoccupied with their own conflicts.
The IDF has admitted to mistakenly identifying a convoy of aid workers as a threat – following the emergence of a video which proved their ambulances were clearly marked when Israeli troops opened fire on them.
The bodies of 15 aid workers – including eight medics working for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) – were found in a “mass grave” after the incident, according to the head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Jonathan Whittall.
The Israeli military originally claimed an investigation found the vehicles did not have any headlights or emergency signals and were therefore targeted as they looked “suspicious”.
But video footage obtained by the PRCS, and verified by Sky News, showed the ambulances and a fire vehicle clearly marked with flashing red lights.
In a briefing from the IDF, they said the ambulances arrived in the Tel Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah shortly after a Hamas police vehicle drove through.
Image: Palestinians mourning the medics after their bodies were recovered. Pic: Reuters
An IDF surveillance aircraft was watching the movement of the ambulances and notified troops on the ground. The IDF said it will not be releasing that footage.
When the ambulances arrived, the soldiers opened fire, thinking the medics were a threat, according to the IDF.
The soldiers were surprised by the convoy stopping on the road and several people getting out quickly and running, the IDF claimed, adding the soldiers were unaware the suspects were in fact unarmed medics.
An Israeli military official would not say how far away troops were when they fired on the vehicles.
The IDF acknowledged that its statement claiming that the ambulances had their lights off was incorrect, and was based on the testimony from the soldiers in the incident.
The newly emerged video footage showed that the ambulances were clearly identifiable and had their lights on, the IDF said.
The IDF added that there will be a re-investigation to look into this discrepancy.
Image: The clip is filmed through a vehicle windscreen – with three red light vehicles visible in front
Addressing the fact the aid workers’ bodies were buried in a mass grave, the IDF said in its briefing this is an approved and regular practice to prevent wild dogs and other animals from eating the corpses.
The IDF could not explain why the ambulances were also buried.
The IDF said six of the 15 people killed were linked to Hamas, but revealed no detail to support the claim.
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Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza
The newly emerged footage of the incident was discovered on a phone belonging to one of the workers who was killed, PRCS president Dr Younis Al Khatib said.
“His phone was found with his body and he recorded the whole event,” he said. “His last words before being shot, ‘Forgive me, mom. I just wanted to help people. I wanted to save lives’.”
Sky News used an aftermath video and satellite imagery to verify the location and timing of the newly emerged footage of the incident.
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Aid worker attacks increasing
It was filmed on 23 March north of Rafah and shows a convoy of marked ambulances and a fire-fighting vehicle travelling south along a road towards the city centre. All the vehicles visible in the convoy have their flashing lights on.
The footage was filmed early in the morning, with a satellite image seen by Sky News taken at 9.48am local time on the same day showing a group of vehicles bunched together off the road.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out at the US over its “weak” response to lethal Russian attacks on his hometown on Friday.
President Zelenskyy posted a lengthy and emotional statement on X about Russia’s strikes on Kryvyi Rih, which killed 19 people.
Meanwhile Ukrainian drones hit an explosives factory in Russia’s Samara region in an overnight strike, a member of Ukraine’s SBU security service told Reuters.
In his post, President Zelenskyy accused the United States of being “afraid” to name-check Russia in its comment on the attack.
“Unfortunately, the reaction of the American Embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people – and such a weak reaction,” he wrote on X.
“They are even afraid to say the word “Russian” when talking about the missile that killed children.”
America’s ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink had written on X: “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant in Kryvyi Rih.
“More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. This is why the war must end.”
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Strike on Zelenskyy’s home city
President Zelenskyy went on in his post to say: “Yes, the war must end. But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade.
“We must not be afraid to put pressure on the only one who continues this war and ignores all the world’s proposals to end it. We must put pressure on Russia, which chooses to kill children instead of a ceasefire.”
Grandmother ‘burned to death in her home’
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defense council, said the missile attack, followed by a drone attack, had killed 19 people, including nine children.
“The Iskander-M missile strike with cluster munitions at the children’s playground in the residential area, to make the shrapnel fly further apart, killed 18 people.
“One grandmother was burnt to death in her house after Shahed’s direct hit.”
Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck a military gathering in a restaurant – an assertion rebutted by the Ukrainian military as misinformation.
“The missile hit right on the street – around ordinary houses, a playground, shops, a restaurant,” President Zelenskyy wrote.
Mr Zelenskyy also detailed the child victims of the attack including “Konstantin, who will be 16 forever” and “Arina, who will also be 7 forever”.
The UK’s chief of the defence staff Sir Tony Radakin said he had met the Ukrainian leader on Friday, along with French armed forces leader General Thierry Burkhard.
“Britain and France are coming together & Europe is stepping up in a way that is real & substantial, with 200 planners from 30 nations working to strengthen Ukraine’s long term security,” Sir Tony wrote.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.