ISIS media source Al Amaq said the Syrian and Russian combat jets conducted over 40 airstrikes in the eastern countryside of Aleppo targeting the ISIS defenses at a number of villages inside the Al Bab Plateau and Deir Hafer Plain.

Report says the jets targeted the villages of Abu Jabbar Kabeera, Al-Kitah, Rasm Al-Khabaz, Umm Kharzah, and Rasm Al-Harmi Al-Imam in Aleppo’s eastern countryside.

These airstrikes were likely launched in order to pave the way for the SAA’s assault on these villages.