Russia bombs rebel-held areas of Syria in 'warning' to opposition after Hezbollah setback

Russian warplanes bombed towns and villages in rebel-held northwestern Syria for a second day running on Tuesday, injuring people and damaging an electrical power plant, in what appears to be an escalation after a period of relative calm.

The New Arab’s affiliate site Syria TV said that six Russian Sukhoi-24 and Sukhoi-34 planes carried out the strikes, while drones flew overhead.

The planes carried out a total of 11 strikes, targeting rebel-held areas of Latakia, Idlib, and Hama provinces.

The Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said that civilians were injured and fires broke out when Russian planes hit the Kelani power plant in Ain al-Zarka in Latakia province.

The power plant has been put out of action as a result of the strike, according to the local Green Energy power company, which said that electricity had been cut to areas which depend on it.

On Monday, Russian warplanes carried out 25 airstrikes on northwestern Syria, targeting suburbs of Idlib city as well as parts of southern and western Idlib province.

Syrian pro-regime media said that the strikes were a “warning” to Syrian opposition forces, amid reports that the opposition was preparing to attack regime forces in northern Syria.

There has been speculation that opposition forces are allegedly planning to attack regime forces in order to try and take advantage of the setbacks Hezbollah, a key regime ally, has suffered in Lebanon, with Israel eliminating most of its top leadership.

However three opposition military sources – two from the hardline Islamist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group which dominates most rebel-held areas - previously told Syria TV that there were no plans for an offensive in the near future.

There has been a ceasefire in northwestern Syria, the last area of the country to be held by anti-Assad rebels, since March 2020, although it is sometimes violated by the regime and its ally Russia.

More than 500,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since it broke out in 2011, mostly at the hands of the Assad regime and its allies. The casualty rate has fallen dramatically in recent years.