Syrian
army and Russian jets target rebel towns north of Homs
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[October 15, 2015]
By Dominic Evans and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian troops and
their allies, backed by Russian jets, attacked rebel-held towns north of
the city of Homs on Thursday, targeting a long-held and strategic
enclave of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
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The offensive that began before dawn expands on over a week of
ground attacks launched with Russian air support in areas of western
Syria that are crucial to Assad's survival and held by rebel groups
other than Islamic State.
Syrian state television, quoting a military source, said the army
had begun a military operation in the area after heavy air strikes
and artillery barrages early on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group which
monitors Syria's four-year-old civil war, said five civilians and
six insurgents had been killed in Teir Malla, about 3 miles (5 km)
north of Homs city.
A few miles further north, there were heavy air strikes around the
town of Talbiseh and other villages in the area, the Observatory
said, as well as fierce clashes on the southern edges of the town
and nearby villages.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Oct/15/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_festivals_2015.png) The Syrian army, supported by foreign allies including Iran, has
launched several ground offensives to retake insurgent-held
territory since Russian jets started air strikes against rebel
targets - mainly in western Syria - two weeks ago.
The army operations include a campaign to recapture rebel-held land
in Hama, Idlib and Latakia provinces in the northwest. Regional
officials have also said the army, backed by Iranian reinforcements,
is preparing for a ground operation around Aleppo city, close to the
Turkish border.
Recapturing the area north of Homs would help reassert Assad's
control over the main population centers of western Syria and secure
territory linking Damascus to the coastal heartland of his minority
Alawite sect.
The military source quoted by state television said the army and its
allies had taken control of the villages of Khalidiya and Dar
Kabira, between Homs and Teir Malla.
The Observatory said the army had advanced in Khalidiya, but there
was still heavy fighting there.
"There are very heavy air strikes in Homs on the frontlines. There
are civilian casualties. The aim is to apply military pressure, and
the regime's intention is to storm the area," said the leader of one
rebel group operating in the area.
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He said the number killed was not confirmed but gave the names of
five documented dead including a girl and two women.
A resident of Talbiseh said four civilians had been killed there and
that a school was hit at around 6 a.m., before classes started. He
said jets were still flying in the area.
"They want to open up the road from Homs (north) to Hama. There's no
end to the aerial observation and the bombardment," said Abdul Rahim
Duhaik, a teacher in Talbiseh.
"People are busy digging shelters. No one has any intention of
leaving. We will die in our land rather than be evicted".
Responding to the reports of civilian deaths, the Syrian military
source said Syrian forces and Russian jets do not target areas where
civilians are present. He accused al Qaeda's wing in Syria, the
Nusra Front, of carrying out a massacre on Thursday so it could
blame the deaths on the bombardment.
The source, quoted by state television, said the army had begun a
military operation in the north Homs countryside after "concentrated
air strikes and heavy preparatory artillery shelling on the
terrorist groupings and their bases".
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Oct/15/images/ads/current/chicago_street_rental_sda_daily_2015.png)
(Reporting by Dominic Evans and Tom Perry in Beirut, and Suleiman
al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Janet Lawrence/Ruth Pitchford)
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