Official media quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying, on Sunday, during a visit to Damascus that the situation in Syria is “difficult.”

But Araqchi believed that the government of President Bashar al-Assad would succeed in overcoming the opposition, as it did in the past, as he put it.

Earlier, Sunday, Araqchi said, I will go to Damascus to carry the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government. We strongly support the government and the army in Syria.

The Iranian Foreign Minister met with Syrian regime President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, without directly announcing what happened during the meeting.

On November 27, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which is listed on the US terrorist lists, along with the National Liberation Front, Jaysh al-Izza and some factions of the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey, launched the “Deterring Aggression” operation in several areas in northwestern Syria.

The forces participating in the operation said in a statement that the aim of the operation to deter aggression is to remove the danger of Iranian militias and Syrian regime forces from populated areas, and to expand safe areas to create conditions for the return of the displaced to their homes.

The death toll from Syrian regime forces and armed opposition factions rose to 416, some of them due to Russian raids, according to what the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

He reported that 23 of the dead were regime forces who were killed in the city of Aleppo when Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham stormed the city of Aleppo, while 61 civilians were killed as a result of the battles.

For its part, the Syrian Civil Defense reported that 12 people were killed and 23 others were injured as a result of a warplane believed to be Russian bombing the university hospital square in the center of Aleppo.

The Civil Defense also announced that 9 people were killed and 59 others were injured as a result of Russian raids that targeted the Al-Qusour and Khamara neighborhoods in the center of Idlib city.

On Sunday, the armed opposition factions in northern Syria announced their control of the “Meng” military airport in the Aleppo countryside from the northern side, making it the fourth airport under their control in their ongoing military operation since last Wednesday.

The control of "Meneng" comes hours after the opposition factions announced their control of the Kuweires military airport, and said that they had seized control of many weapons and ammunition and a piece of the Russian air defense system (Pantsir).

On Saturday, the armed factions took control of Aleppo International Airport, the first civilian airport under their control since 2011.

Before taking control of it, the armed factions deployed in Idlib, led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, announced control of the Abu al-Duhur military airport located in the countryside of the governorate.