According to the latest news from Syrian television, at three a.m. local time on Sunday, the Syrian and Russian coalition forces launched a full-scale offensive against the opposition in Idlib. This marked the beginning of a new phase in the Idlib campaign. This was preceded by a number of exploratory offensives by Syrian and Russian forces to understand the strength and intentions of the opposition. It is reported that the operation took place before the opposition tried to break through the encirclement, and about 10,000 militants gathered in the northern part of the province of Hama and the southeastern part of Idlib, ready to launch an offensive. But Syrian and Russian forces took the initiative, first firing a large number of missiles, rockets and artillery shells, including powerful cloudbursts, at opposition concentration areas.
According to intelligence, the Syrian and Russian military learned in advance that a large number of opposition militants had recently secretly entered the demilitarized zone, planning to gather superior forces on the encirclement of the coalition forces in order to open the line of communication to Idlib. However, Syria and Russia took the initiative and carried out indiscriminate bombardment of the opposition, causing a large number of casualties among militants. Allegedly, even US military advisers were mixed in and were not spared. After intensive air strikes, the opposition has retreated from the area, leaving behind a large number of corpses and heavy equipment. The Syrian and Russian coalition forces followed, seizing a number of strategic points.
During this offensive, the Russian army again used TOS-1A flamethrower tanks, firing a large number of cloudburst shells at the front positions of the opposition. In the conflict in Syria, this weapon of fire suppression has played a key role several times, once destroying the strong fortifications of the opposition. This tank was conceived as a "decisive weapon for pressing the bottom of the box". However, the TOS-1A flamethrower tank has a shorter range, generally only 6-8 km, and is therefore more suitable for close fire coverage than long-range strikes. In the face of dense opposition forces this time, the TOS-1A flamethrower tank clearly played a huge role and achieved a lot of results.
Due to its powerful firepower, the Syrian army is very envious of the TOS-1A flamethrower tank. However, Russia supplied only a small number of TOS-1A tanks to the Syrian army. As a result, the Syrian army has developed an indigenous version of the flamethrower tank, called the Golan-1000 super-heavy rocket launcher. This rocket launcher is based on a T-55 tank or truck chassis and is armed with a triple 500 mm rocket launcher, capable of firing super-heavy rockets. In a number of previous battles, this weapon has shown itself well, and its great power has caused a great shock to the opposition. As the conflict in Syria comes to an end, the Syrian and Russian coalition forces can concentrate more offensive weapons on the battlefield, which is undoubtedly bad news for the opposition forces.