Syria rebels, allies cut key highway as escalating fighting kills around 200

Russian airstrikes on the Aleppo countryside killed 19 civilians on Thursday,

said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, adding

Ankara is sending a message to both Damascus and Moscow to back down from their military efforts in northwest Syria,

With some Turkey-backed factions joining the offensive ... he said

This operation aims to repel the sources of fire of the criminal enemy from the frontlines,

said Mohamed Bashir, who heads HTS's so-called "Salvation Government", during a press conference

The highway has now been put out of service, after it was reopened by regime forces years ago,

said the monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions cut off the Damascus-Aleppo international M5 highway ... in addition to controlling the junction between the M4 and M5 highways,

the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said

Our forces are confronting the terrorist organizations with different power and in collaboration with friendly forces to ensure the situation returns to how it was,

the army statement said

Despite harsh weather and rugged terrain, Turkish forces remain committed to destroying terrorism at its source until all terror dens are destroyed and the last terrorist is neutralized,

the ministry said

We are closely following the mobilization initiated by some local groups in the region and the related developments. We have taken all kinds of precautions for our troops and continue to do so,

sources within the Defense Ministry told local media

We are assessing that there may be caves, shelters and depots in the region that have not yet been entered,

they said

Moreover, 37 members of the [Syrian] regime forces including at least four officers of different ranks were killed and five members were captured, while weapon depots, armoured vehicles, machineries and heavy weapons were taken over,

the observatory said in a statement

Years ago, an offense of this size would have been pushed back by the regime,

Mr. Lister said

Pro-regime militias have been upping their attacks in the area, trying to deter the rebels because Israel has been weakening the Syrian regime’s allies like Hezbollah and Iran,

said Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

In the matter of about 10 hours, a wide spectrum of armed opposition groups have managed to get to within about four or five kilometers now of Aleppo city, which is of gigantic significance,

Charles Lister, the director of Middle East Institute’s Syria and counterterrorism programs, said on Wednesday