ALEPPO, Syria — Russian and Iranian support of Syrian government forces proved to be pivotal in recent fighting in Aleppo’s southern countryside. Syrian opposition forces lost several important towns and strategic locations in a large-scale offensive the Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies launched Oct. 16. The opposition brigades declared a full public mobilization Oct. 17 to try to counter the attack.
On Oct. 13, Iranian officials had announced that Iranian troops numbering in the thousands had arrived in Syria to prepare, along with Lebanese Hezbollah forces, for the offensive outside Aleppo. While Iran backed regime forces on the ground, Russia handled air support, having launched military operations Sept. 30. The government forces would not have been able to make progress in the countryside without the Iranian and Russia efforts. The opposition forces had long maintained their grip on the largest part of the region by deterring regime attacks, the last of which occurred in June 2014 on towns close to Jabal Azan.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United States have not provided the opposition forces they support with new or qualitatively better arms since the Russian intervention, despite reports in the media that Saudi Arabia was supplying the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with more lethal arms, including surface-to-air missiles, in response to Russia's involvement. “I did not see or receive any new weapons,” Col. Ahmad Othman, commander-in-chief of the Sultan Murad Brigade, an FSA affiliate, told Al-Monitor. “We received more supplies, but they are all ordinary weapons like we received months ago. We have TOW missiles that played a vital role in the battles against the regime.”
FSA brigades — which include the Thuwar al-Sham Battalions, the 13th Division, the 101st Division, Suqour al-Jabal and others — destroyed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles during the regime attack on Aleppo’s southern countryside. Othman shared videos showing that the Sultan Murad Brigade alone had destroyed eight tanks and nine other vehicles during Oct. 16-23.
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