Syria war monitor says rebels control most of Aleppo city

BEIRUT - A monitor of Syria’s war said on Nov 30 that rebels controlled most of Aleppo city, reporting Russian air strikes on parts of Syria’s second-largest city for the first time since 2016.

Syria’s army admitted that rebels had entered “large parts” of Aleppo and said “dozens of men from our armed forces were killed and others wounded”.

The fighters have pressed a lightning offensive

against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Syrian government since Nov 27, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a Damascus ally, after two months of all-out war.

“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied faction... took control of most of the city and government centres and prisons”, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

HTS, a militant alliance led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, controls swathes of the Idlib region, in Syria’s north-west, as well as parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.

Allied Turkish-backed rebel factions have also been taking part in the offensive.

Overnight, Russian “warplanes launched raids on areas of Aleppo city for the first time since 2016”, added the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The Syrian army said it was preparing a counter-offensive to restore state authority.

“The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defence lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counter-attack,” the army said.

It added that the rebels had entered large parts of Aleppo, but army bombardment had stopped them from establishing fixed positions. It promised to “expel them and restore the control of the state… over the entire city and its countryside”.

AFPTV images showed fires burning in the city after the air strikes. Streets were largely deserted, but AFP images showed rebels outside a Syrian Telecom building and the landmark citadel.

An opposition flag hung from a traffic light.

Praying in the city

Some rebels prayed in the city centre and fired celebratory gunfire, later patrolling on foot in central Aleppo, images showed.

Other fighters were seen posing with a rebel flag outside a police building bearing a large poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and standing below a partially burning billboard of him.

Syria’s army said “armed terrorist organisations” – a term it also uses to refer to opposition groups – launched “a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts” and reported fierce battles “over a strip exceeding 100km”.

The Observatory said the overnight air strikes coincided with “the arrival of large (rebel) military reinforcements” to the area. The war monitor also reported that the rebels had taken dozens of towns and villages in the north.

It raised the death toll in days of clashes to 311 – 183 from HTS and allied factions, 100 soldiers and pro-government forces, as well as 28 civilians.

State media reported that four civilians were killed when HTS shelled a student residence in Aleppo, a city of around two million people that was Syria’s pre-war manufacturing hub.

Pro-government radio station Sham FM reported that “armed groups were present in a number of streets and neighbourhoods in Aleppo city amid air strikes targeting fighters’ positions west of the city”.

“Most civilians are avoiding leaving their homes and public and private institutions in the city are almost completely shut,” it added.

Iran-backed groups have a heavy presence in the Aleppo region after providing crucial ground support when the Syrian army – backed by Russian air power – recaptured rebel-held areas of the city in 2016.

The Observatory said that “the governor of Aleppo and the police and security branch commanders withdrew from the city centre”.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP early on Nov 30 that rebel fighters swiftly captured swathes of Aleppo without meeting significant resistance, adding “there has been no fighting, not a single shot was fired, as regime forces withdrew”.

The militants and their allies made other advances in the north, including seizure of the strategically located town of Saraqib, on the road to Aleppo about 40km south-west, the Observatory had said.

The Russian military said on Nov 29 it was bombing “extremist” forces, as Turkey demanded a halt to bombardment on the Idlib region.

Speaking on Nov 29, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

“We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible,” he said.

Since 2020, the Idlib area has been subject to a Turkey- and Russia-brokered truce, which had largely been holding despite repeated violations.

State news agency Sana said on Nov 30 that Foreign Minister Bassam al-Sabbagh has discussed “the latest developments in northern Syria” with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty. AFP, REUTERS