Syrian rebels on Tuesday launched a wide-scale attack against a five-month Russia-backed Syrian army campaign aiming to take back the opposition's last major bastion, opposition officials, rebels and residents said.
The push-back comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where Ankara, a major rebel backer, is expected to ask Russia to rein in Syrian army advances in the northwest.
The rebel counterattack sought to abort a push north from Khan Sheikhoun, which Syria's Russia-backed army seized with the help of Russian ground troops last week, toward the rebel-held city of Maarat al-Numan.