October 19, 2015•Update: October 20, 2015
ANKARA
Russia’s intensive air support of the Syrian regime has driven opposition forces to be on the defensive, all the while failing to considerably impact Daesh.
Anadolu Agency correspondents, mostly reporting from opposition-controlled areas, have observed these opposition forces continuing to protect their territories to a large extent against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Russian airstrikes since Sept. 30 have been, for the most part, located around the cities of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Homs -- mainly controlled by opposition forces.
According to local sources, Assad's troops launched simultaneous attacks in areas bombed by Russian fighter jets.
Due to air support of Russian fighter jets, Assad forces have stopped the progression of opposition forces in the regions of Hama and Homs. The latter adopted a more defensive strategy and lost six villages they had been controlling.
The first Russian supported attack was repelled
At first, Assad forces conducted attacks in the northern region of Hama and Homs for 10 days with air support from Russian jets. Yet, opposition forces managed to ward off the onslaught and maintain their positions.
The Assad regime began to launch attacks in northern Hama with simultaneous support in the air from Russia on Oct. 9, but the Free Syrian Army repelled the attacks by destroying 21 tanks belonging to the regime.
On Oct. 15, as regime forces provided land support, Russian jets bombed the northern parts of the Homs province. The opposition forces again managed to repel the attacks, damaging a few of Assad's tanks along the way.
400 km of bombing site
Russian fighter jets have been bombing a 400-km stretch from Latakia to Aleppo in Syria since Sept. 30. Opposition forces have tried to fend off Syrian regime forces along a 5-15 km stretch with limited logistics.
As the area encompassing the clashes grew larger, anti-regime forces began to experience difficulties gathering supplies. Since their supply depots were located for the most part in Idlib and Aleppo, numerous goods could not reach the frontlines of Hama and Homs because of the Russian airstrikes.
Opposition forces, including Free Syrian Army combatants, were also busy fighting Daesh in the northern part of Aleppo.
Russia targets opposition forces not Daesh
Despite Moscow's claims that it has been targeting Daesh, the militant group appears unperturbed and has reportedly cleared no areas due to airstrikes so far.
The local forces reported that no Daesh targets had been hit by Russian fighter jets. However, Daesh has benefited from the weakening of opposition forces, reclaiming certain districts near Aleppo.
Russia began carrying out airstrikes in war-torn Syria on Sept. 30. According to the Kremlin, the strikes are aimed at supporting the Assad regime -- an ally of Russia’s -- against Daesh.
Turkey and the West, for their part, accuse Russia of targeting moderate groups in Syria opposed to Assad, many of which are supported by Ankara and Washington.
At least 250,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, with 7.6 million internally displaced and over 4 million having fled to nearby countries.
