In the afternoon of April 27, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on terrorists’ positions in the vicinity of the town of al-Lataminah in the northern Hama countryside.
Earlier, Russian attack helicopters targeted terrorists’ positions, vehicles and gatherings in al-Lataminah and the nearby town of Kafr Zita.
These intense airstrikes appear to be an attempt to deter the terrorists, who launched a barrage of Grad rockets at the Russian Hmeimim airbase a day earlier. The attack was a major violation of the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone on Idlib, which was reached last September.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said earlier that a large-scale military operation against the remaining terrorists Idlib “is not expedient now.” However, the president didn’t rule out the possibility of such operation in the future.
“I don’t rule it [a military operation in Idlib] out, but right now we and our Syrian friends consider that to be inadvisable given this humanitarian element,” Putin told reporters during a press conference in Beijing, according to the Moscow Times.
Putin’s remarks indicate that Russia is still committed to a peaceful solution in Idlib in coordination with Turkey, despite the recent attacks, which were carried out by terrorists hiding there.
