Syrian government and Russian warplanes intensified attacks on Monday in areas held by rebels in the northwest, residents and rescue workers said, including a strike on a displaced people’s camp that killed seven.
The lightning rebel assault last week dealt Assad his biggest blow in years, reigniting a conflict that had appeared frozen for years after civil war front lines stabilised in 2020.
Russia, though focused on its war in Ukraine since 2022, retains an air base in northern Syria. The main Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has been focused on its own war with Israel since the Gaza conflict began last year.
The United States and United Arab Emirates have discussed the possibility of trying to peel Assad away from Iran by offering to lift sanctions if he cuts off weapons routes to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, sources familiar with the matter said.
The discussions took place before the rebel advance on Aleppo last week, the sources said.
