PHOTO: Residents inspect damage after Monday airstrike on opposition-held al-Maysar neighborhood (Reuters)

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The US State Department has said that it is “very, very concerned” about fighting across northwest Syria, as UN envoy Staffan de Mistura hopes to reconvene political talks.

“We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence and that includes actions that are in contravention of the cessation of hostilities,” spokesman Mark Toner said.

Rebels and Jabhat al-Nusra are challenging pro-Assad forces — including Iranian units, Hezbollah, and foreign militias — on fronts in southern Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama Provinces.

The southern Aleppo offensive, launched on April 1, has regained territory lost to a regime-Iranian-Hezbollah advance, enabled by Russian airstrikes, last autumn. Pro-regime outlets said the Syrian military retook positions in Latakia that it lost over the weekend to rebels and Nusra.

See Syria Daily, April 11: Fighting Spreads Across Northwest in 3 Provinces

A February 27 cessation of hostilities, brokered by the US and Russia, reduced violence in much of Syria, although pro-Assad forces pursued military operations in five provinces.

Rebels said, at the outset of their southern Aleppo assault, that they were responding to continued attacks on the ground and from the air.

State Department spokesman Toner said on Monday, “We would say that the vast majority of violations have been on the part of the regime.”

He said Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the weekend, wanted to ensure “every extra effort is made in order to sustain and solidify the cessation of hostilities” before political talks resume in Geneva.

UN envoy de Mistura has set the resumption for April 13, although a regime delegation is not expected to arrive until the 15th.

Meeting de Mistura in Damascus on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem again said that the regime will not accept any outcome in which President Assad steps aside.

Islamic State Seriously Wounds Syrian Journalist in Turkey

The Islamic State has seriously wounded a Syrian journalist, Mohammed Zahir al Sherqat, in an attack in the Turkish border town of Gaziantep.

Sherqat, who worked for Halab Today TV, was shot in the neck from close range while walking in the street. He is in serious condition in a “deep coma”.

Habab Today said the reporter had received death threats from the IS.

The Islamic State, claiming the attack through the Amaq news agency, said Sheqat “used to present anti-Islamic State programs”.

ISIS has claimed four attacks on Syrian journalists in Turkey. Last year, two reporters were found with their throats slit while a third was shot dead in the street in Gaziantep. The attacks have prompted a media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, to urge the Turkish authorities to protect exiled Syrian journalists in the country.

Sherqat is an imam who studied Islamic Law at Damascus University. At the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011, he co-founded the Local Coordinating Committee of Al-Bab, north of Aleppo city, and a field organizer of opposition demonstrations

He came to Turkey in 2014 and started to work with Halab Today.

2 Killed as Russian Helicopter Crashes in Homs Province

Russia’s Defense Ministry says two troops were killed when an Mi-28N attack helicopter crashed in Homs Province early Tuesday.

“The bodies of the dead pilots were removed during search and rescue operations and are currently at the Hmeymim Airbase [in Latakia Province,” a spokesman said.

He said the helicopter was not shot down.

Two Russian jet fighters have been downed by rebels with portable MANPADS systems in the past month.

The deaths on Tuesday bring Russia’s total to eight since it launched airstrikes and ground support operations on September 30.

Protest in Southeast Turkey Over ISIS Shelling, Syrian-Owned Shops Attacked

A march in Kilis in southeastern Turkey has protested cross-border shelling by the Islamic State which has killed and wounded residents in recent months.

In the latest incident, 12 people were injured by two ISIS rockets on Tuesday.

Reports say Syrian shops were attacked and Syrian refugees harassed during the demonstration.

Rebels & Nusra Repel Foreign-Led Regime Attack on al-Eis on South Aleppo Front

Rebels and Jabhat al-Nusra have repelled a foreign-led regime attack on the town of al-Eis, south of Aleppo city on the Aleppo-to-Damascus highway.

Claims say that about 100 Iranian troops and foreign militia were killed in an ambush as they tried to advance, with armored vehicles destroyed or damaged. Earlier, a pro-Free Syrian Army site puts the death toll, based on a partial count, at more than 30.

Graphic footage has been posted of the bodies of the pro-Assad troops.

An interview with defending fighters on a hilltop near al-Eis:

A lightning rebel-Nusra assault reclaimed al-Eis and surrounding hills on April 1. The town had been held by foreign militia following its capture by a regime-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive, enabled by Russian airstrikes, last autumn.

See Syria Daily, April 10: Rebels and Nusra Press Offensive on South Aleppo Front

Ignoring the Iranian presence, pro-regime outlets initially declared this morning that “Syrian Army, Hezbollah are on the verge of liberating the imperative town of Al-Eis”, but later admitted failure.

Russian Military: No Plans for Assault on Aleppo City

Pushing back a statement by the Syrian Prime Minister, Russia’s military has said that there are no plans for an assault on the divided city of Aleppo.

General Sergey Rudskoy, head of operations at the Russian General Staff, denied Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi’s claim — made to a visiting Russian delegation on Sunday — that the Russian and Syrian militaries were preparing to reunited Aleppo, divided since July 2012.

However, Rudskoy proclaimed that the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra have “nearly 10,000 troops around the city”:

Despite progress achieved in securing a ceasefire, Turkey continues to funnel men and arms to Jabhat al-Nusra….Al-Nusra’s men and materiel are being allowed to pass through areas that the US has designated as being controlled by the opposition.

The general warned:

It is reliably known that the militants are planning a large-scale offensive with the aim of cutting off communication between Aleppo and Damascus. If they are not stopped, we could see a blockade of northern parts of Syria.