Turkey- Russia targets moderate opposition civilians in Syria

12/1/2015 4:56:45 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The Russian air campaign in Syria - purportedly launchedas part of a counter-terrorism offensive against Daesh - has targeted moderate opposition forces andcivilians in areas held by forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry as of Nov. 4 Russian warplanescarried out 1631 flights over Syria and hit 2084 targets since the operation began on Sept. 30.

Theministry claimed 190 Daesh positions were hit within 24 hours onNov. 20.

However in October Russian airstrikes focused on areas around Idlib Hama Homs and Aleppo.

Between the second half of October and throughoutNovember the airstrikes were concentrated on the south of Idlib around Aleppo andon opposition-held areas in the Turkmen region of Bayirbucak in rural Latakia.

For the last fortnight Maaret al-Numan to the south of Idlib has come under heavy Russian bombardment resulting in tens of civilian deaths.

The attacks have also targeted civilians inKafr Hamra to the northwest of Aleppo and Al-Hadher a town to the southof the city.

Over the past three weeks jet strikes and missiles fired from ships in the eastern Mediterranean have also targeted theBayirbucak regionto support regime ground troops fighting Turkmen militias.

The attacks which began on thevillage of Gimam have been ongoing for the past 12 days as Russian jets and missiles target the strategically important AcisuFirinlik andKizildagmountain peaks.

According to the latest report from the Syrian Network for Human Rights 263 civilians have been killed by Russian forces in Syria.

Thousands ofTurkmen have recently beenforced to flee the air and groundattacks. Around 2000 arrived in southern Turkey over the last few days.

Limited success for Assad regime

Despite the close air support of Russian bombers Assad’s forces have been unable to dislodge opposition fighters in defensive positions.

In October regime soldiers moved into three villages and a town inthe north of Hama province while taking three towns in south of Aleppo.

The same month saw opposition forces make gains in southern Aleppo taking the towns of Al-HuveyzKarasiTileliyn andMermin from the regime.

In early November opposition troops seized control of the strategictown of Murak on the road linking Damascus Hama and Aleppo.

Under heavy aerial attackBayirbucak's keystrategic pointsoften change hands between Turkmen troops and Assad forces.

Fighters from theArmy of Conquest - an umbrella coalition of opposition factions inIdlib Hama andLatakia provinces - regainedcontrol of hills and villages around two regime-held towns.

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