IDLIB, Syria — The Syrian revolution broke out in March 2011 as Syrians demanded freedom and democracy from an authoritarian totalitarian regime. This regime, however, confronted peaceful demonstrations with live ammunition that led to the killing and wounding of several demonstrators back then. Several months later, the situation in Syria evolved, and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which was formed in July of 2011, turned into the Syrian revolution’s military arm that confronts the Syrian regime’s military machine.

As the Syrian regime failed to put an end to the revolution, it subsequently resorted to its allies, namely Hezbollah and Russia, for military and political support, and it seems to have shifted from giving orders to receiving ones while serving Iran's and Russia’s interests. This impeded Damascus from making any decision to start or stop a battle before consulting its Iranian ally, as shown by the recent truce that was signed between the opposition and the regime in September; the negotiating team was Iranian, and there were no regime representatives facing the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham movement.

The Russian intervention that started in late September was a desperate attempt to defend the regime, which prompted the opposition FSA forces to announce full public mobilization aimed at confronting the Russian aggression, which they described as an occupation of Syrian territory, according to the FSA forces.

After it received Russian support, the regime braced itself for a major battle to try to regain the territory it had lost. It launched its first battle in the countryside of Hama — which had been under the opposition control — and it started a fierce ground campaign under Russian air cover on Oct. 7.