The development came a day before a new round of talks between Turkey and Russia on the escalation in the area.
The Syrian government’s recent advances in the northwestern region have upset a fragile cooperation between Ankara and Moscow, which back opposing factions in the conflict but have collaborated toward a political solution to the nearly nine-year war, according to Reuters.
Turkey, which backs rebels looking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been outraged since Syrian attacks in the Idlib region killed 13 Turkish troops in two weeks. It has urged Russia to stop the attacks, warning it would use military power to drive back the Syrian forces unless they withdraw by the end of the month.
On Sunday, Russian warplanes mounted heavy air strikes in Aleppo province, bombing towns including Anadan, which was later seized by Syrian forces supported by Iranian-backed militias, activists reported.
Rebel military sources said opposition fighters had pulled back from the area, including Anadan and the town of Haritan.
“In day one, they took an area where for eight years they could not take a single village,” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
“There is very rapid advance by the [Syrian] regime in this area,” Abdulrahman said. “The factions have withdrawn from most of the area,” he added. The Observatory said Syrian forces had seized 13 towns and villages in the area.
The advances came after Assad’s forces drove insurgents from the M5 highway linking Aleppo to Damascus, and reopened the fastest route between Syria’s two biggest cities for the first time in years, in a major strategic accomplishment for Assad.
Turkish-backed rebels have launched an operation in Idlib to retake areas lost to Syrian government forces. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday that a 100-vehicle convoy of reinforcements, including troops, tanks and military vehicles and equipment, had been deployed to Idlib.
Turkey has so far sent thousands of troops and hundreds of convoys of military equipment to reinforce its observation posts in Idlib, established under a 2018 de-escalation agreement with Russia. Images from the region showed many houses draped in Turkish flags, while footage showed residents chanting slogans as convoys passed by.
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