Syria – On Thursday, November 28, 2024, Iranian General Kiomars Borhashemi was killed during an opposition assault on Syrian government positions. The attack was led by opposition groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which targeted 12 towns and villages in Aleppo province under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

According to the Iranian Student News Agency, heavy clashes erupted on Wednesday, November 27, resulting in the deaths of over 140 individuals, including Syrian soldiers and fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other factions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the casualties included 71 members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, 18 from the National Army factions, and 52 Syrian army personnel.

The ongoing battles in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside are described as the most intense in years, taking place approximately 10 kilometers from the outskirts of Aleppo. The Observatory noted that the opposition factions have made territorial gains in western Aleppo and eastern Idlib, capturing strategically significant villages near the Aleppo-Damascus highway in an effort to sever this vital route.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense stated that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions launched a major offensive on a wide front early on November 27, attacking safe villages and military positions with a large number of fighters and heavy weaponry. The ministry claimed that Syrian forces are continuing to repel this ongoing assault.

In addition to heavy artillery and rocket fire, the Observatory reported airstrikes by Russian warplanes targeting areas around the city of Sarmada in Idlib. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, along with less influential opposition factions, currently controls about half of Idlib and adjacent areas in Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama provinces.

The frontlines in northern Aleppo had remained quiet for several months prior to this recent escalation. A ceasefire in Idlib and its surroundings, announced on March 6, 2020, by Moscow and Ankara, has largely held despite intermittent exchanges of fire and airstrikes from both Damascus and Moscow.

Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, Syria has experienced devastating violence, resulting in over half a million deaths and extensive destruction of infrastructure, displacing millions both internally and externally.