TEHRAN/DAMACUS -- Iran on Friday reiterated its strong support for ally Syria, where takfiri terrorists are waging a major onslaught in the northwest of the country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi “stressed Iran’s continued support for the government, nation and army of Syria in their fight against terrorism,” during a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh, according to a statement. 
Army reinforcements arrived in Aleppo on Friday as fierce battles and clashes west of Aleppo, a Syrian government security official told AFP. The Syria army later said it repelled the onslaught. 
“Our forces continue to repel the major offensive launched by armed terrorist groups,” the army said in a statement, adding that it was “able to retake control of certain positions”.
Official news agency SANA said the Syrian army launched intensified missile attacks on terrorist positions that stretch from villages in western Aleppo to Mount Zawiya south of Idlib.
Oleg Ignasyuk, the deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, said that at least 400 terrorists affiliated to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, had been killed. He stressed that the Syrian army “is fighting fiercely, amid the support of the Russian air force.”
Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed militant-held areas in northwest Syria near the border with Turkey to push back the terrorists.
The takfiri terrorists and their Turkish-backed allies shelled the second Syrian city Aleppo, killing at least four civilians. 
The onslaught began at a sensitive time for Syria and the region, with a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and the occupying regime of Israel taking effect earlier this week in neighboring Lebanon.
This week, the takfiri terrorists and factions backed by Turkey, which neighbors Syria and supported the sedition against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched a major surprise onslaught against government forces.
They shelled a university student residence on Friday in government-held Aleppo, northern Syria’s main city, killing four civilians according to state media.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “more than 14,000 people -- nearly half are children -- have been displaced” by the violence.
Aleppo resident Sarmad, 51, told AFP he could hear “the sounds of missiles and artillery shelling around the clock”.
“We’re scared that war will break out and we’ll be displaced from our homes again,” he said.
Nasser Hamdo, 36, who works in a pastry shop, said he had been glued to the news since hostilities began.
Since 2011, the war on Syria has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and morphed into a complex war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described the situation in Aleppo as “an infringement on the sovereignty of Syria.” He expressed support for “the government of Syria to quickly restore order in this district and restore the constitutional order.” 
The takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, controls swathes of the Idlib region as well as small parts of neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
The Idlib area where the takfiri terrorists are based has been subject to a Turkey and Russia-brokered truce since 2020. 

The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated but had largely been holding. 
The takfiri terrorists and their Turkey-backed allies are reportedly taking orders from a joint military operations command.
During its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the occupying regime of Israel intensified its strikes on Syria and its allies such as Hezbollah.
In his phone talks with his Syrian counterpart, Iran’s FM Araghchi said the resurgence of takfiri terrorism in northern Syria is the outcome of an American-Israeli project, following the Zionist regime’s defeats against resistance in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Sabbagh said the Syrian state and people are standing up to terrorist aggression with all their might, and will keep preventing terrorists and their supporters from realizing their sinister ambitions.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the United States, Britain and some other Western countries for spreading chaos through terrorist groups across Syria. 
The support by the Western regimes for terrorist groups operating across Syria is no secret anymore and has fully been exposed, she said in Moscow. 
“Attempts to target the Syrian state, its sovereignty and independence have been ongoing for years by regimes hostile to international peace and security in general, and they have chosen Syria and are still clinging to it as a target for their ongoing and continuous aggression,” Zakharova was quoted as saying. 
She also reiterated that Russia’s support for Syria and its people has been the basis for ensuring security and stability in the West Asia region.