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Syrian rebels launched a new operation against regime forces on Wednesday, reportedly capturing several villages, as regime and Russian forces launched airstrikes on rebel-held northwestern Syria.

°®Âþµºâ€™s affiliate Syria TV reported that rebels had named their operation 'Deterring Aggression' - its goal, to expand areas of Syria where displaced people could return to "in dignity and security".

Opposition forces said they had taken control of several villages in western Aleppo province - including Sheikh Aqil, Jamiyat Al-Maari, and Bala = following fierce clashes with regime forces.

They also claimed to have seized the strategic Base 46 in the area, according to rebel-affiliated Twitter accounts.

A spokesman for the Jaysh al-Izzah rebel group, Mustafa Bakkour, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the operation had come in response to the regime and its allies massing troops and launching attacks in the northwest area over the past few weeks.

Syrian regime forces and pro-Iran militias in the country have been targeted by deadly Israeli airstrikes in recent weeks, amid Israel’s war in Lebanon.

Regime forces and their Russian allies have attacked rebel-held areas in an apparent attempt to deter the rebels taking advantage of regime setbacks, despite a ceasefire technically in place since March 2020.

Regime forces and their pro-Iran militia allies responded with artillery and rocket bombardment on several rebel-held towns in Idlib and western Aleppo provinces, including Darret Izza and Atareb, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Syria TV said the regime had dropped cluster bombs on the rebel-held town of Sarmada, while Russian forces launched airstrikes on the town of Kafr Taal in western Aleppo province.

Hundreds of families have fled their homes as a result. The Ghazawiya crossing, which links rebel-held and regime-held areas of northwestern Syria, was also closed, as were schools and universities in opposition towns.

Northwestern Syria is the last area of the country to be controlled by anti-Assad rebels and is dominated by the hardline Islamist Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.

With crucial help from Russia and Iran, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been able to regain control of most areas of the country once held by the opposition.

Over 500,000 people in Syria have been killed as a result of the conflict which broke out in 2011, most of them the result of regime bombardment of civilian areas.