Written by Suleiman Al Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian army said on Saturday that dozens of soldiers were killed in a major rebel attack on the city of Aleppo, marking the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years. He announced that he was forced to relocate.
The surprise attack, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was the boldest rebel attack in years in a civil war that has been largely frozen since 2020.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, began on a massive scale several years ago after Iran and Russia helped the Assad regime seize most of its land and all major cities. Although most of the fighting has ceased, it has continued since 2011 without an official end.
Aleppo has been one of the major turning points in the war since the 2016 victory in which the Russian-backed Syrian army besieged and devastated rebel-held areas in the eastern region, which had been the country’s largest city. was tightly controlled by the government.
“I am a son of Aleppo and I was evacuated from Aleppo eight years ago in 2016. I have just returned and I thank God. The feeling is indescribable,” he said in a TV footage filmed in the city. said rebel fighter Ali Jumaa.
The Syrian military command confirmed the advance of the rebels and announced that they had entered large parts of Aleppo.
The military launched airstrikes on rebel rallies and convoys in the city after announcing it was preparing a counterattack, pro-Damascus newspaper al-Watan reported. One strike left casualties in Aleppo’s Basel Square, residents told Reuters.
Overnight, footage from Aleppo showed a group of rebel fighters gathering in the city’s Saadallah al-Jabiri square, with Assad’s billboards looming behind them.
Images taken on Saturday showed people taking photos atop the statue of Bashir al-Assad, the fallen president’s brother. The fighters drove around the city in flatbed trucks and roamed the streets. A man stands near Aleppo’s historic citadel and waves a Syrian rebel flag.
The Syrian military command announced that the militants attacked in large numbers and from multiple directions, saying, “Our military is redeploying to absorb the attack and strengthen the defense line to protect the lives of civilians and soldiers.” A strategy was carried out.
The rebels also took control of Aleppo airport, the operations room and security sources said.
Two rebel sources also said the rebels had captured the city of Marat al-Numan in Idlib province and had taken control of the entire region.
The fighting has reignited the long-simmering conflict in Syria, with a wide swath of the region reeling from wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and a ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was announced on Wednesday. It took effect.
The offensive highlighted the complex geopolitics of the conflict, with Assad backed by Russia and Iran, and Turkey backing some rebel groups in the northwest where it maintains troops. Fighting in the northwest has largely subsided since Türkiye and Russia reached a de-escalation agreement in 2020.
Russian and Turkish ministers meet
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and discussed the situation in Syria.
“Both sides expressed serious concern over the dangerous development of the situation,” the ministry said. The two leaders agreed on the need to coordinate joint actions to stabilize the situation in the country.
Turkish security officials said on Thursday that the Turkish government had thwarted an operation that the rebels were trying to organize to avoid further tensions in the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi told Lavrov in a telephone conversation that the rebel attacks were part of an Israeli and U.S. plan to destabilize the region, Iranian state media said.
Syria Civil Defense, a rescue organization operating in rebel-held areas of Syria, posted on He said that 6 people were killed and 6 people were injured.
Two Syrian military officials said Russia had promised Damascus additional military aid that would begin arriving within the next 72 hours.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) control much of northeastern and eastern Syria and are the spearhead of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which has been based in Aleppo for many years, but has moved to Aleppo as government forces withdraw. A YPG official revealed that they have expanded their control in the city. Said.
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, commander of the Jaish al-Isa rebel brigade, said the rebels’ rapid advance was aided by a lack of Iranian-backed manpower to support the government in the greater Aleppo area.
As the Gaza conflict spreads across the Middle East, Iran’s allies in the region are suffering a series of blows at the hands of Israel.
Rebel fighters say the operation is a response to increased attacks on civilians by the Russian and Syrian air forces in the Idlib region in recent weeks, and is intended to preempt an attack by the Syrian army. insisted.
