Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchisays he will leave Tehran for Damascus today to deliver a message of support for the Syrian government and armed forces.

“I am traveling to Damascus to deliver the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government,” Araghchi said, stressing that Tehran would “firmly support the Syrian government and army,” state news agency Irna reported. Araghchi will then pay a diplomatic visit turkeywhich has supported rebel groups along Syria’s northern border but has recently sought to normalize relations with Assad.

The Syrian army said on Saturday that dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels that entered the city of Aleppo.

In a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov yesterday, Araqchi said the attacks were part of an Israeli-American plan to destabilize the region, state media said.

Welcome to our live coverage of the rebels’ surprise offensive in Syria. We will provide you with the latest updates throughout the day.

Now opposition fighters are said to have taken control AleppoSyria’s second largest city, and are located in several rural towns near the country’s fourth largest city, Hama.

Islamist-led rebels captured Aleppo airport and dozens of surrounding towns on Saturday after overrunning most of Aleppo, according to a war monitor.

The Syrian army confirmed that rebels had entered “large parts” of the city of around two million people and said “dozens of our armed forces were killed.”

On Wednesday, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions launched a surprise attack on government-held areas in northern Aleppo province, triggering the fiercest fighting in years, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

More than 300 people have been killed since Wednesday, including at least 20 civilians, according to the Britain-based War Monitor.

President Bashar al-Assadwhose regime is backed by Moscow and Tehran, has vowed to “defend Syria’s stability and territorial integrity in the face of all terrorists and their supporters.”

As my colleague Ruth Michaelson notes in this story, the surprise offensive that saw insurgents seize territory in northwestern Syria represents the biggest challenge to Assad’s control in years. Syria has been in civil war for more than a decade, but the intensity of the conflict has increased decreased in recent years.

At least one civilian was killed after Russia carried out five consecutive airstrikes on a refugee camp in a neighborhood in Idlib, SOHR said.

Today it said Russia had attacked rural parts of Idlib and Hama, where the group leading the rebel offensive “recently seized control.” In the Idlib region, after an offensive by the Syrian government in March 2020, a ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia was in effect, which was repeatedly violated but largely adhered to.