Syria war monitor says armed opposition group controls most of Aleppo
A Syria war monitor said on November 30th that armed opposition group Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, now controlled most of Aleppo city, according to The New Arab and agencies. Russian airstrikes were also reported in parts of Syria’s second city for the first time in eight years.
The Syrian army admitted that HTS had entered large parts of Aleppo and said “dozens of men from our armed forces were killed and others wounded”.
The events following an offensive against the Assad government that began on November 27th. “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions…took control of most of the city and government centres and prisons”, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The offensive began the same day a ceasefire took effect in Syria’s neighbour Lebanon, where Israeli had been fighting Hezbollah, a close ally of Syria’s government.
Tahrir al-Sham is a Syrian armed political alliance led by a group formally known as Al-Nusra, who until 2016 were Al-Qaeda’s regional branch in Syria. They control swathes of north-western city Idlib. Turkish-backed armed groups have also been taking part in the offensive.
The observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, added that overnight, Russian “warplanes launched raids on areas of Aleppo city for the first time since 2016.”
AFPTV images showed fires burning in the city after the air strikes and deserted streets, although images from AFP. showed rebels outside a Syrian Telecom building and the landmark citadel, with an opposition flag hung from a traffic light.
Images showed some of the HTS fighters praying in the city centre and firing celebratory gunfire, later patrolling on foot in central Aleppo.
Others were seen posing with their organisation’s flag outside a police building bearing a large poster of Assad and standing below a partially burning billboard of Syria’s president.
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Assad’s forces said “armed terrorist organisations” launched “a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts” and reported fierce battles “over a strip exceeding 100 kilometres (60 miles)”.
The observatory added that the overnight air strikes coincided with “the arrival of large (opposition) military reinforcements” to the area. The war monitors also reported that HTS had taken dozens of towns and villages in the north.
It raised the death toll in days of violence 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 by HTS shelling of a student residence in Aleppo, a city of around two million people that before the war was Syria’s manufacturing hub.
Sham FM, a pro-Assad radio station, 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.
The observatory reported that “the governor of Aleppo and the police and security branch commanders withdrew from the city centre.”
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the observatory, told AFP early on November 30th that HTS 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 observatory added that HTS and allies made other advances in the north, including the seizure of the strategically located town of Saraqi on the road to Aleppo about 40 kilometres southwest.
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Russia said on November 29th that it was bombing “extremist” forces as Turkey demanded a halt to the bombardment of the Idlib region.
Since 2020, Idlib has been subject to a truce mediated by Turkey and Russia, which has mostly held despite repeated violations.
SANA, a state news agency, said on November 30th that Foreign Minister Bassam al-Sabbagh discussed “the latest developments in northern Syria” with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty.
The New Arab, The Guardian
