Jihadists and Turkish-backed allies breach Syria’s Aleppo, capturing half of city
Jihadists and their Turkish-backed allies breached Syria’s second city of Aleppo on Friday, capturing half of the city as regime forces withdrew. The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the fighters took control of more than 50 towns and villages in the north and entered western districts of Aleppo, a city of around two million people that was Syria’s pre-war manufacturing hub. The fighters swiftly captured half of Aleppo without meeting significant resistance, according to the Observatory.
The fighting was initially fierce, with 277 people killed, including 28 civilians, most killed by Russian air strikes. Syrian and Russian warplanes launched intense air strikes on the rebel enclave around Idlib, where the jihadists are based, carrying out 23 raids.
The Russian military said it was bombing “extremist” forces, while Turkey demanded a halt to the bombardment. The Idlib area has been subject to a truce brokered by Turkey and Russia since 2020, but it has been repeatedly violated.
The renewed fighting in northwest Syria has displaced thousands of people, with more than 14,000 people, including nearly half of them children, forced to flee their homes. Residents of Aleppo expressed concern that the war could break out again and that they would be displaced from their homes.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia had been preparing for an offensive in the region, according to analyst Nick Heras of the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. Heras said the anti-government forces are in a better position to take and seize villages than Russian-backed Syrian government forces, while the Iranians are focused on Lebanon.
The Kremlin described the events in Aleppo as “an infringement on the sovereignty of Syria” and expressed support for the government to quickly restore order in the district. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged continued support for the government, nation, and army of Syria.