Damascus, October 16 (RHC)-- Syrian armed forces, backed by Russian air support, have reportedly launched a large-scale military offensive against Takfiri terrorists in the southern countryside of Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city.

On Friday, Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying that government troops and popular defense groups opened a new front against the militants in the southern suburbs of Aleppo, the capital of a province with the same name in northwestern Syria.

According to the source, Syrian forces had already regained control of the towns of Ebtin and Hadadin al-Gharbiyeh as well as al-Kassarat and al-Madajen areas in the province before beginning the operation.