The Syrian regime launches an air offensive to stem the rebel onslaught in Damascus

Insurgent forces and jihadists surprised Sunday with a strong attack in the northeast.

Syrian, Russian and Iranian planes have bombed rebel and jihadist positions in northeast Damascus on Monday, where Bashar al-Assad’s army had rejected an offensive from al-Jabhat Fatah al-Sham-linked groups linked to Syria’s al-Qaeda And today part of the insurgent coalition Tahrir al Sham. «There have been strong air strikes since dawn against rebel positions in the Jobar neighborhood, from where the insurgent offensive was launched,» Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), told reporters.

«Government forces and their allies have restarted the initiative and launched a counteroffensive against rebel groups that had carried out the attacks on Sunday,» Abdel Rahman said. The clashes have occurred in the neighborhood of Jobar, in which there have been clashes between rebels and the regime for two years.

The onslaught of rebel forces, including the Salafist Ahrar al Sham and the independent Failaq al Rahman, seeks to respond to the losses in the districts of Qaboun and Barza near Jobar. For the first time in two years, the rebels penetrated buildings in Abasiyin Square, controlled by government forces, from where rockets were fired at several sectors of the capital, according to the OSDH.

Bashar al-Asad’s allied forces have managed to halt the advance of the rebels, who still maintain a large densely populated enclave in eastern Guta district and villages east of the capital. According to EFE, in the last 24 hours at least 47 people have died in combat. Among them, at least 26 members of forces loyal to the Syrian president, and 21 Islamist fighters, two of whom died in suicide car bombings.

Source.ElPais