BEIRUT — Insurgents invaded Syria’s largest city on Friday and clashed with government forces for the first time since 2016, according to a war monitor and fighters, in a surprise attack that sent residents fleeing and adding a new uncertainty in a region shaken by multiple wars.
The advance on Aleppo follows a shock offensive launched by insurgents on Wednesday, as thousands of fighters swept through villages and towns in northwest Syria. Residents fled the city’s outlying neighborhoods because of the missiles and gunfire, according to witnesses in Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s unresolved civil war, said dozens of fighters from both sides had been killed.
The attack injected new violence into a region facing dual wars in Gaza and Lebanon involving Israel, as well as other conflicts including the Syrian civil war that began in 2011.
Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since they were driven from eastern neighborhoods in 2016 following a grueling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by the Russia, Iran and its allied groups.
But this time there was no sign of any significant reaction from government forces or their allies. Instead, there were reports of government forces melting away in the face of advances, and insurgents posted messages on social media calling on troops to surrender.
Robert Ford, who was the last U.S. ambassador to Syria, said the attack showed that Syrian government forces were “extremely weak.” In some cases, he says, they appear to have “almost been routed.”
This week’s advances were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, group, and represent the most intense fighting in the country’s northwest. Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by the opposition.
The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has supported Syrian government forces since 2015, are preoccupied with their own fighting at home.
A ceasefire in the two-month-old war between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect on Wednesday, the day Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also stepped up attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria over the past 70 days.
Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group and an expert on Syrian groups, said insurgents had been signaling for some time that they were ready to launch an offensive. But no one expected a rapid advance of forces towards Aleppo.
“Not only are the Russians distracted and bogged down in Ukraine, but the Iranians are also distracted and bogged down elsewhere. Hezbollah is distracted and bogged down elsewhere, and the regime is completely cornered,” she said. “But the element of surprise comes from how quickly the regime collapsed. »
The attack on Aleppo follows weeks of simmering violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, which has supported Syrian opposition groups, has failed in diplomatic efforts to prevent government attacks, seen as a violation of a 2019 deal sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran to freeze the line of conflict.
Turkish security officials said Thursday that Syrian opposition groups initially launched a long-planned “limited” offensive toward Aleppo, where the attacks targeting civilians were originating. However, the offensive widened as Syrian government forces began to withdraw from their positions, the officials said.
The aim of the offensive was to re-establish the boundaries of the de-escalation zone, according to Turkish officials.
The 2016 battle for Aleppo marked a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters after 2011 protests against Bashar al-Assad’s regime escalated into all-out war.
Russia, Iran and their allies helped Syrian government forces regain control of the city that year, after a grueling military campaign and a weeks-long siege.
In addition to supporting opposition forces, Turkey has also established a military presence in Syria, sending troops to parts of the northwest. Furthermore, and mainly in eastern Syria, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State fighters.
The Syrian government has not commented on the insurgents’ violation of Aleppo city limits.
The Kremlin said Friday that it considered the attack an attack on Syria’s sovereignty and that it supported establishing constitutional order in the region as quickly as possible.
“Of course, this is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty in this region,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing.
Syria’s armed forces said in a statement Friday that they had clashed with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, destroying drones and heavy weapons. They vowed to repel the attack and accused the insurgents of spreading false information about their advances.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said insurgents detonated two car bombs on the western outskirts of Aleppo on Friday. The War Observatory said insurgents also managed to take control of Saraqeb, south of Aleppo, a town located at the strategic intersection of highways linking Aleppo to Damascus and the coast. Syrian government authorities diverted traffic from this highway on Thursday.
An insurgent commander posted a recorded message on social media calling on Aleppo residents to cooperate with advancing forces.
Turkey’s official Anadolu agency reported that insurgents entered the city center on Friday and now control around 70 sites in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
Syrian state media reported that projectiles launched by insurgents landed in student accommodation at Aleppo University in the city center, killing four people, including two students.
Syria’s armed forces said the insurgents were violating a 2019 agreement that eased fighting in the region, the last opposition stronghold for years.
Hezbollah was “the main force” in government control of Aleppo, said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Observatory.
In a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described insurgent attacks in Syria “as a plot orchestrated by the United States and the Zionist regime after the regime’s defeat in Lebanon and Syria.” Palestine.”
The insurgents posted videos online showing them using drones, a new weapon for them. It is unclear to what extent drones were used on the battlefield.
Insurgents attacked a military air base southeast of Aleppo with drones early Friday, destroying a helicopter, Anadolu Agency reported. Opposition groups also seized heavy weapons and military vehicles belonging to government forces, the agency said.
Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
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