25 killed as Assad and Russia bomb civilian areas of Idlib, Aleppo in response to Syria's rebel offensive

At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in strikes carried out by the Assad regime and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.

Russian and regime jets struck the rebel-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military sources said, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush the rebel alliance which had swept away his forces on their way to taking the city of Aleppo.

Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the centre of Idlib, the largest city in a rebel enclave near the Turkish border where around four million displaced Syrians live in makeshift tents.

At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, according to rescuers at the scene. The Assad regime and its ally Russia have been implicated in deliberately attacking civilian areas of rebel-held areas for well over a decade of Syria's civil war, killing thousands.

Ten children were among the dead in the air strikes in and around Idlib and other targets in rebel-held territory near Aleppo on Sunday, the White Helmets reported.

The total death toll from Syrian and Russian strikes since 27 November had climbed to 56, including 20 children, the group added in a statement on X.

The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, as well as sweeping into Syria's largest city Aleppo, forcing Assad regime forces to retreat.

It is the boldest rebel assault in years in a civil war where the front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.

However, the Assad regime, Russia and Iran have been active during this time, including frequently striking rebel-held Idlib and building military bases near from which to launch future attacks on the liberated province.

In remarks published on state media, Assad said: "Terrorists only know the language of force and it is the language we will crush them with".

The Assad-loyal Syrian army said dozens of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Aleppo.

Russian war bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow had dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, according to Reuters.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Assad in Damascus on Sunday and announced Tehran's full support for his regime. He later arrived for talks in Ankara, Turkey, one of the rebel's main backers.

“I clearly announced full-fledged support to President Assad, government, army, and people of Syria by the Islamic Republic of Iran," Araghchi said.

He did not elaborate but Iran has been one of Assad's principal political and military supporters and has deployed military advisers and forces after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

Tehran-backed Iraqi militias already in Syria mobilised and additional forces crossed the border to support Assad's government and army.

According to Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some 200 Iraqi militiamen 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.

This comes as clashes intensified between the Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US-backed SDF seized on the security vacuum left by Syrian rebel advances to establish a "humanitarian corridor" linking Kurdish-held northeastern regions to Tel Rifaat, a strategic area northwest of Aleppo.

However, the SNA swiftly moved to stop this, pointing out the SDF’s previous collaboration with Assad against rebel forces, though it is also known that Turkey does not want the SDF, which is dominated by the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), to expand in northwest Syria.

Agencies contributed to this report