Syrian government troops pushed an offensive Tuesday against militants in the country’s north on the eve of parliament elections — a vote that is expected to rubber-stamp an assembly loyal to President Bashar Assad ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva resuming this week.
Damascus says the vote, which will only be held in areas controlled by the government, is constitutional and separate from the talks aimed at ending the war. But the opposition says it contributes to an increasingly unfavorable climate for negotiations amid fierce fighting that threatens an increasingly crumbling cease-fire engineered by the United States and Russia.
The new offensive, launched by Syrian troops and their allies Tuesday, seeks to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants, including al-Qaida’s local affiliate.
Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, reported the offensive to retake the village of Tel al-Ais. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist-run monitoring group, said clashes were ongoing around Tel al-Ais and the nearby village of Khan Touman.
The Observatory said dozens of troops and pro-government fighters were killed in Tuesday’s clashes in Aleppo province, without providing precise figures.
Tel al-Ais overlooks a supply line connecting the capital, Damascus, to the northern city of Aleppo, parts of which have been held by groups opposed to the government since 2012. Militants captured Tel al-Ais earlier this month after heavy fighting despite the U.S.-Russian-brokered truce, which excludes the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front.
The Syrian National Coalition, an Istanbul-based opposition group, said the offensive in Aleppo is a violation of the cease-fire, warning that the agreement will lose all meaning if the attacks continue unheeded.