In the early hours of April 5, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted several airstrikes on terrorist positions in the southern Idlib countryside.
Syrian opposition sources said that the Russian airstrikes targeted the town of Khan Shaykhun. The strategic town is controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria.
Few hours earlier, the terrorists launched a barrage of rockets at the Christian town of Mahardah in the government-held part of the northern Hama countryside. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said the attack killed one civilian and injured three others.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has not commented on reprots about these airstrikes so far. However, there is a good chance that these airstrikes were a response to the deadly rocket attack on Mahardah.
HTS and its allies, which are violating the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone agreement on a daily basis, were likely behind the attack. Turkish forces that conduct patrols in the demilitarized zone have failed to put an end to their violations so far.