Syria Rebels Hit By Air Strike and Ground

The villages of Kafr Zita, Kafr Nabudah, al Sayyad and al Lataminah in Hama province and the towns of Khan Shaykhun and Alhbit in Idlib, were among those attacked by airstrikes, the Observatory said.

At least four rebel positions have been hit by the attacks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in what appeared to be the first major coordinated strike since Moscow's intervention.

"Regime forces" is a term the Observatory uses broadly to describe the mix of Syrian military and allied local and foreign militia.The Revolutionary Command Council of Hama posted a video on YouTube which it claimed showed the attack on al Lataminah. According to the Reuters news agency, the military plan to involve Russia in Syria's war was formed in July after a visit to Moscow by an Iranian general.

Major General Qassem Soleimani's visit has led to Russian warplanes bombing rebels from above and Iranian Special Forces taking part in ground operations, reshaping the conflict.

Maj Gen Soleimani is the commander of the Quds Force, the elite extra-territorial Special Forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Sources have told the news agency he has now been seen supervising ground operations against insurgents in Syria and planning the new Russian- and Iranian-backed offensive. The joint Russian-Iranian plan has wrong-footed Western officials who had been describing what they believed was new flexibility in Moscow's stance on Assad.

Syria Rebels Assault