Rebels stormed Syria’s largest city on Friday and clashed with government forces for the first time since 2016, a war observer and militants said, a surprise attack that sent residents fleeing and threw a wrench in a country plagued by multiple wars. The region adds new uncertainties.
The advance towards Aleppo is Launch a shock offensive Thousands of militants swept through villages and towns in rural northwestern Syria on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses in Aleppo said residents fled neighborhoods on the edge of the city amid reports of missiles and gunfire. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s unresolved civil war, said dozens of fighters on both sides had been killed.
The attack injected new violence into the region, which is experiencing twin wars involving Israel in Gaza and Lebanon and other conflicts, including the Syrian civil war that began in 2011.
Aleppo has been free of insurgency since 2016, when opposition forces were driven out of the east following a grueling military operation by Syrian government forces backed by Russia, Iran and their allies or their allies. Over attack. Instead, there were reports that government forces were collapsing in the face of the offensive, and rebels posted messages on social media calling on the troops to surrender.
Robert Ford, the last US ambassador to Syria, said the attack showed the “extreme weakness” of Syrian government forces. In some cases, he said, they seemed “almost defeated.”
This week’s biggest advance by opposition factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is one of the biggest in recent years and the fiercest fighting in northwest Syria since 2020, when government forces captured what was previously a areas controlled by the opposition.
The offensive comes as Iran-linked groups, mainly Lebanese Hezbollah, which has supported Syrian government forces since 2015, have been focused on their own domestic fighting.
A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month-long war with Israel came into effect on Wednesday, the same day the Syrian opposition announced the attack. In the past 70 days, Israel has also stepped up its attacks on Hezbollah and Iran-related targets in Syria.
Darlene Khalifa, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group and an expert on Syrian groups, said the rebels have sent signals that they are ready to attack. But no one expected the rapid advance of troops toward Aleppo.
“Not only are the Russians distraught and beleaguered in Ukraine, but the Iranians are distraught and beleaguered elsewhere. Hezbollah is distraught and beleaguered elsewhere, and the regime is absolutely cornered,” she said. “But what’s surprising is how quickly the regime collapses.”
The attack on Aleppo follows weeks of low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, which backs Syrian opposition groups, has failed to prevent government attacks through diplomatic efforts, which is seen as a violation of a 2019 agreement between Russia, Turkey and Iran to freeze conflict lines.
Turkish security officials said on Thursday that Syrian opposition groups initially launched a long-planned “limited” offensive into Aleppo, where attacks on civilians were launched. However, officials said the offensive expanded as Syrian government forces began to retreat from their positions.
Turkish officials said the offensive was aimed at reestablishing the borders of the de-escalation zone.
The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebels, after protests against Bashar al-Assad’s rule in 2011 turned into all-out war.
Russia, Iran and their allies helped Syrian government forces regain control of the city that year after a grueling military campaign and weeks-long siege.
In addition to supporting opposition forces, Türkiye has established a military presence in Syria and sent troops to parts of the northwest. In addition, the United States mainly supports the Syrian Kurdish armed forces in fighting Islamic State militants in eastern Syria.
The Syrian government has not commented on the rebels’ breach of the border with Aleppo city.
The Kremlin said on Friday it considered the attack a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and supported the speedy establishment of constitutional order in the region.
“Of course, this violates Syria’s sovereignty in the region,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.
The Syrian armed forces said in a statement on Friday that they had destroyed drones and heavy weapons in clashes with rebels in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib. They vowed to repel the attack and accused the rebels of spreading disinformation about their offensive.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels detonated two car bombs on Friday on the western edge of Aleppo. War monitors said rebels also took control of Saraqeb, south of Aleppo, a town at a strategic intersection of highways linking Aleppo with Damascus and the coast. Syrian government authorities diverted traffic from the highway on Thursday.
A rebel commander posted a recorded message on social media calling on Aleppo residents to cooperate with the advancing forces.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that rebels entered the city center on Friday and now control about 70 locations in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
Syrian state media reported that rebel shells landed at a student dormitory at Aleppo University in the center of the city, killing four people, including two students.
The Syrian armed forces say the rebels have violated a 2019 agreement to de-escalate fighting in the area, which has been the last remaining opposition stronghold for years.
Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the Observatory, said Hezbollah was the “main force” behind the government’s control of Aleppo.
In a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the attacks by Syrian rebels as “a carefully planned conspiracy by the United States and the Zionist regime following their defeat in Lebanon and Palestine.”
Videos posted online by the insurgents showed them using drones, a new weapon in their repertoire. It’s unclear to what extent drones will be used on the battlefield.
Earlier on Friday, rebels attacked a military air base southeast of Aleppo with a drone, destroying a helicopter, Anadolu news agency reported. The agency said opposition groups also seized heavy weapons and military vehicles belonging to government forces.
