The Syrian government has been fighting back against opposition forces with airstrikes after they took over large swathes of land in a lighting advance which has caused embarrassment to President Bashar Al-Assad.

Israeli analyst Daniel Rakov assessed that the capture of Syria's Aleppo by Islamist rebels is an embarrassing defeat for Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Rakov emphasized that Ukraine has been supporting Syrian rebels in recent months,

Aleppo was one of the bloodiest battlegrounds and represented one of the rebels’ biggest defeats. To achieve victory, Assad relied on Russian airpower and Iranian military help on the ground - mainly through militias sponsored by Iran. These included Hezbollah.