Photo credit: VOA
Rebel forces in Syria have taken control of several neighbourhoods of the country’s largest city, Aleppo.
BBC reports that as of Friday morning, rebels controlled more than half of the city. The move is the biggest offensive against the Syrian government in years and the first time rebels fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have reached Aleppo since being forced out by the army in 2016.
Meanwhile, government forces say they have regained positions in several towns in Aleppo and Idlib provinces following an offensive launched by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HRS) and allied factions on Wednesday.
Over half a million people have been killed in the civil war that erupted after the government cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011. An array of armed groups opposed to the Assad government – including jihadists took advantage of the turmoil to seize swathes of the territory.
With help from Russia and other allies, the Syrian government retook most of the areas it had lost.
Idlib, the last remaining opposition stronghold, is mainly controlled by HTS, but Turkish-backed rebel factions and Turkish forces are also based there.
All flights out of Aleppo have been cancelled, and the airport has been closed.
Meanwhile, SOHR, which uses a network of sources on the ground in Syria, reported that Syrian and Russian planes carried out 23 air strikes on the Aleppo region on Friday. It also disclosed that 255 people had been killed in the fighting, the deadliest between rebels and pro-government forces in Syria for years.
Fighting in Idlib had wound mainly down since 2020, when Turkey and Russia, Syria’s key ally, brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake the province.
However, on Wednesday, HTS and its allies said they had launched their offensive to “deter aggression”, accusing the government and allied militias of escalation in the region.
It came as Syria and its allies were preoccupied with other conflicts.
