Kremlin comments on Syria escalation

Russia hopes Damascus will restore order in Aleppo province, which has been targeted by terrorists in a surprise offensive, spokesman Dmitry Peskov says

The renewed terrorist attacks in Syria are an encroachment on the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, expressing hope that Damascus would soon be able to resolve the crisis.

On Thursday, local media reported that the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), which emerged from Jabhat al-Nusra and includes members of several other terrorist groups, launched a large-scale attack in Aleppo and Idlib provinces. The militants reportedly managed to overrun several areas previously under the control of the Syrian military.

Commenting on the recent escalation on Friday, Peskov described it as “an attack on Syria’s sovereignty in the region,” adding “we would like the Syrian authorities to restore order there as soon as possible.”

READ MORE: Timing of militant offensive in Syria raises questions – Turkish expert

On Friday, the Al Mayadeen network reported that Syrian forces had managed to check the terrorists' advance and launch a counteroffensive to retake lost territories while carrying out missile strikes on the militants’ headquarters.

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Meanwhile, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that four civilians had been killed as a result of a terrorist shelling of a university campus in Aleppo.

The attack was the first of its kind in years, although Damascus and Moscow have frequently carried out airstrikes against various militants still active in the region, including HTS, which is recognized as a terrorist group by Russia, the US, the EU, the UK, Türkiye, and several other countries.

Russia started its military operation in Syria in 2015 at the request of President Bashar Assad with the key goal of neutralizing several terrorist organizations in the turbulent region, including Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra.

Russian air support contributed to major defeats of the terrorist forces in the following months. IS and several other groups also had to grapple with attacks by a US-led international coalition, which, however, provided support to some other factions.

Moscow maintains a military footprint in Syria, most notably at the Hmeimim and Tartus Bases.