On November 30, 2024, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, anti-government militants brandished guns while riding bicycles. The offensive captured Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city.
Omar Haji Kadour | AFP | Getty Images
The Syrian army said on Saturday that dozens of soldiers were killed in a massive attack led by Islamist group Tahrir al-Sham that swept through the city of Aleppo, forcing troops to redeploy as they prepare to confront Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. biggest challenge.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian air force carried out strikes against Syrian rebels in support of the country’s military, according to Russian news agencies. The attack was the rebels’ most daring in years in a civil war that has left the frontline largely frozen since 2020.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, referred to as HTS, was once known as the “Nusra Front” and was recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, Russia, Turkey and other countries. Assad is a close ally of Moscow.
In Washington, the White House National Security Council said it was monitoring the situation closely and had been in contact with regional capitals over the past 48 hours.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said Syria’s refusal to engage in the political process and its reliance on Russia and Iran “created the conditions that are currently taking place, including the collapse of the Assad regime in northwest Syria.”
Savitt said the United States had nothing to do with the offensive led by “designated terrorist groups” and “urged de-escalation … and a serious and credible political process” in accordance with 2015 U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, which sets out steps to achieve Ceasefire and political transition.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, has raged since 2011 with no official end, although most of the people have been killed after Iran and Russia helped Assad’s government take control of most of the land and all major cities. Major fighting stopped years ago.
Aleppo has been tightly controlled by the government since its victory in 2016, one of the major turning points in the war when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and destroyed the rebel-held eastern part of the country’s largest city. .
“I am a son of Aleppo who was displaced eight years ago, in 2016. Thank God we have just come back. It is an indescribable feeling,” said rebel fighter Ali Jumaa. said in a television clip filmed in the city.
The Syrian army command acknowledged the rebel gains and said they had entered much of Aleppo.
The airstrikes targeted rebel rallies and convoys in the city after the army said it was preparing for a counterattack, pro-Damascus newspaper El National reported. An attack in Aleppo’s Basel Square caused casualties, a resident told Reuters.
The state-run Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Syrian Opponents said missile and bomb attacks against the rebels targeted “militant concentrations, command posts, warehouses and artillery positions” in Aleppo and Idlib provinces. About 300 rebel fighters were said to have been killed.
Images taken on Saturday showed people posing for photos in front of a toppled statue of Bashir al-Assad, the president’s late brother. Militants speed through the city in trucks and stalk the streets. A man stands near Aleppo’s historic citadel waving a Syrian opposition flag.
The Syrian military said that militants launched large-scale attacks from multiple directions, prompting “our armed forces to conduct redeployment operations aimed at strengthening defense lines to absorb attacks and protect the lives of civilians and soldiers.”
Rebels also took control of Aleppo airport, according to statements from the rebel operations room and security sources.
Two rebel sources also said the rebels had captured the city of Marat al-Numan in Idlib province, bringing the entire area under their control.
The fighting has reignited the long-simmering conflict in Syria as wars in Gaza and Lebanon roil the wider region.
The offensive has brought into focus the tangled geopolitics of the conflict, as Assad is backed by Russia and Iran, while Turkey backs some rebels in the northwest where it has troops. Fighting in the northwest has largely subsided since Türkiye and Russia reached a de-escalation agreement in 2020.
Russian and Turkish ministers hold talks
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan to discuss the situation in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
“Both sides expressed serious concern over the dangerous development of the situation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Both sides agreed that it was necessary to coordinate joint actions to stabilize the situation in the country.
Turkish security officials said on Thursday that Ankara blocked an operation that an opposition group wanted to organize to avoid further tensions in the region.
Iranian state media said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lavrov in a phone call that the rebel attack was part of a plan by Israel and the United States to destabilize the region.
Fighters ride motorcycles into Rashiddin district on the outskirts of Aleppo, with thick smoke billowing in the background, on November 29, 2024, as HTS jihadists and allied forces continue their offensive against the government in Aleppo governorate The army launched an offensive.
Becker Alkason | AFP | Getty Images
The Syrian Civil Defense Organization, which is conducting rescue work in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition, posted on X that the Syrian government and Russian aircraft carried out air strikes on residential areas in Idlib controlled by the opposition, killing four civilians and injuring six others.
Two Syrian military sources said Russia has pledged additional military aid to Damascus, which will begin arriving within the next 72 hours.
Senior sources in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said that the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) is the vanguard of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and controls much of northeastern and eastern Syria. Well established, the Kurdish YPG expanded its control of the city as government forces left.
Jaish al-Izza rebel brigade commander Mustafa Abdul Jaber said the rebels were able to advance quickly because of a lack of Iranian-backed manpower to support the government in Aleppo province .
As the Gaza war spread across the Middle East, Iran’s regional allies suffered a series of strikes from Israel. Opposition fighters said the operation was in response to intensified Russian and Syrian air force attacks on civilians in areas of Idlib province in recent weeks and as a pre-emptive strike to prevent any attacks by the Syrian army.
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