AMMAN: Russian and Syrian jets resumed intensive strikes in Idlib and Hama on Sunday, residents and rescuers said, as Damascus stepped up its assault on the rebels’ last major stronghold after a Russian-Iranian-Turkish summit failed to agree a ceasefire.

They said Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs — typically filled with high explosives and shrapnel — on al-Habeet and Abdin villages in southern Idlib and a string of other hamlets and villages in the area.

Russian jets were believed to have hit the nearby towns of Latamneh and Kafr Zeita in northern Hama in a succession of raids, an organisation which monitors air strikes in Syria and a rebel source said.

Damascus, backed by allies Russia and Iran, has been preparing a major assault to recover Idlib and adjacent areas of the northwest. The province is Syria’s last major stronghold of active opposition to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2018