Last Wednesday, a coalition led by the Levant Liberation Body (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS, in Arabic) -Turkish-backed group and heir to the Against Nusra, former affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria– began an offensive against positions of the Syrian Government of the President Bashar al-Assad. In just two days they entered Aleppo, the second most important city in Syria, which hosts an important Christian minority, and in a short time the Syrian regime lost full control of Aleppo, as reported this Monday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The alliance of rebel militias dominated by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) A lightning assault began on Wednesday to take Aleppo, which left 412 dead, mostly combatants from both sides, but also at least 61 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The HTS and other allied factions “control Aleppo, except for the neighborhoods under the control of the Kurdish forces,” he told AFP Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the OSDHan NGO based in the United Kingdom that has a wide network of informants on the ground.
“Assad’s forces completely collapsed in northern and central Syria,” rebel commanders said in a WhatsApp message Saturday night, according to The Washington Post, despite Russian support. Moscow’s tactical aircraft and attack helicopters have been active since the Khmeimim Air Base, near the city of Latakia, since 2015, providing vital support to the Damascus regime.
The United States and its allies France, Germany and the United Kingdom called this Sunday in a joint statement for a “de-escalation” in Syria and urged “a political solution to the conflict.”
The beautiful city of Aleppo has already been severely devastated by years of war. Rebel forces first captured it in 2012 and in 2016 it was the scene of a months-long siege. Russian and Syrian planes carried out constant airstrikes that destroyed entire neighborhoods as Syrian regime forces fought to retake the city of approximately two million people.
In the complex kaleidoscope of the Syrian civil war, with a strong presence of foreign forces, another front intensified on Sunday 40 km north of Aleppo, where fighters Pro-Turks captured the city of Tal Rifat from Kurdish forces and several surrounding towns, the OSDH said.
The report indicates that communications are cut off with the majority Kurdish areas, which raises fears that “massacres” will be perpetrated against that population. Tal Rifat is located about 20 km south of the border with Türkiye and is surrounded by regions held by pro-Turkish forces or the Syrian army.
Assad, with support from Russia and Iran
He President Assad highlighted “the importance of the support of allies and friends to confront foreign-backed terrorist attacks” in the Aleppo offensive, after meeting in Damascus with the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Russia indicated for its part that its aviation was helping the Syrian army to “push back” the rebels in the provinces of Idlib (northwest), Hama (center) and Aleppo (north).
These are the largest clashes in several years in Syria, the scene of a civil war that erupted after the violent repression of peaceful protests in 2011. The conflict, which involved regional and world powers and jihadist groups, has left half a million dead, millions displaced and a country fragmented.
The insurgents led by the HTS control large swaths of territory in the province of Idlib and some areas in Aleppo, Hama, in the central area, and Latakia, with access to the Mediterranean. The Syrian Kurds, for their part, established an autonomous authority supported by a military force in swaths of the northwest. The Syrian regime, with the support of Russia and Iran, began a counteroffensive in 2015 that allowed it to progressively regain control of much of the country.
“Built in at home”
The insurgents began their offensive on the same day that a fragile ceasefire came into force in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and the Islamist movement Hezbollah, backed by Iran, after two months of all-out war.
The rebels took dozens of towns on their march towards Aleppo, whose rich history is captured in its imposing citadel located in its old town, inscribed by UNESCO on the list of world heritage in danger. In Aleppo, an AFP photographer saw vehicles charred. Inside one of the cars, the body of a woman lay in the back seat.. “We are entrenched at home”said a resident who asked not to be identified for security reasons.
The rebels “try to put on a friendly face and reassure the population,” which They forced the bakeries to work all night and today they distributed free bread,” he added.
A “reminder of how weak the regime is”
Aaron Stein, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), based in Washington, considered that “Russia’s presence has been considerably reduced” in recent years and that “rapid aerial bombardments in response have limited usefulness.” The expert described this offensive by the rebels as a “reminder of the weakness of the regime.”
In Idlib, There are bodies in a hospital and burning cars in the streets, As shown in AFP images, after the OSDH reported that a Russian bombing killed at least eight civilians this Sunday, including two children. The Middle East has been shaken since October 2023 by the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza and is now in suspense due to the fragile ceasefire between the Jewish State and Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared this Sunday that he is “constantly following developments in Syria.” Northwestern Syria has remained in a precarious calm in recent years, made possible by a ceasefire established after a regime offensive in March 2020, mediated by Russia and Turkey.
With information from EFE and AFP