Russian airstrikes target Syria's advancing rebels, as Iran vows support for Assad
ITV News' Sam Holder has the latest after Russian and Syrian jets launch airstrikes targeting rebel forces in Aleppo
Iran has pledged to support Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, as rebel forces continue to mount an offensive which has seen them take control of the city of Aleppo.
Syria's military and Russian forces have launched airstrikes in Idlib and Aleppo, leaving at least 15 people dead on Sunday. Meanwhile, government troops pushed back against insurgents in northern Hama, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Assad was pictured meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who reassured him that Tehran would support the government in their counteroffensive.
Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian president said: “Terrorism only understands the language of force, which is the language we will break and eliminate it with, regardless of its supporters and sponsors."
Syrian state media said government supply lines brought heavy equipment and rocket launchers while Syrian and Russian airstrikes targeted weapon depots and insurgent strongholds.
Government airstrikes in Idlib killed at least three civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, said the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets.
Syrian filmmaker Waad Al-Khatib told ITV News: "The regime is definitely collapsing. We knew for a long time that he is not strong.
"When we were displaced in 2016, we thought this is the end, we would never be able to see our country again. But there is hope here, at the end of this long tunnel."
The rebel fighters, led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, began their offensive on Wednesday, attacking Aleppo and the Idlib countryside before moving into the Hama province.
They took over most of Aleppo and made gains in the surrounding province on Saturday, military academy and a strategic town that lies on a major road linking the city with Damascus and the coast.
Rebel commander Colonel Hassan Abdulghani said the insurgents advanced in the countryside around Idlib, and took 65 Syrian troops as prisoners in eastern Aleppo.
The the main road out of the south east of the city was gridlocked as people fled the fighting, with petrol stations short on fuel.
Wednesday's surprise offensive coincided with hopes that tensions in the Middle East may be calming, as a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel took hold in Lebanon.
It marks the first time rebel forces have breached Aleppo since 2016, and is a huge embarrassment for Assad - whose forces have been fighting insurgents in a civil war since 2011.
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Arab leaders, including Jordan’s King Abdullah II and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have called Assad to express their solidarity.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said the push by the rebels poses a risk to regional security and called on resuming diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that the US, which has about 900 troops in Syria, is watching the situation carefully. The American forces, which are in the northeast and far from Aleppo, are guarding against a resurgence by the extremist Islamic State group.
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