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Thousands of civilian cars were fleeing the Syrian city of Aleppo from the main Khanasir Athriya intersection, hours after insurgents overran key neighborhoods, three residents told Reuters.
They were heading mainly towards Latakia and Salamiya, they said, with the main Damascus-Aleppo highway closed.
The Syrian army said on Saturday that rebels had entered large parts of the city of Aleppo in an offensive in which dozens of soldiers were killed, forcing the army to redeploy – the largest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad for years.
The surprise attack carried out by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham shook the front lines of the Syrian civil war largely frozen since 2020, reigniting fighting in a fractured corner of the country close to the Turkish border. The army said it was preparing a counter-offensive to restore state authority.
The statement from the Syrian army command is the first public acknowledgment by the army that rebels have entered Aleppo, which had been under full state control since government forces backed by Russia and Iran chased out the rebels eight years ago.
The army prepares a counterattack
“The large number of terrorists and the multiplicity of battle fronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers and prepare a counterattack,” the statement said. said the army.
The army said rebels had entered much of Aleppo but military shelling had prevented them from establishing fixed positions. He promised to “expel them and reestablish state control…over the entire city and its countryside.”
Two rebel sources said the insurgents had also captured the town of Maraat al Numan in Idlib province, bringing the entire province under their control in what would be another blow to Assad.
The fighting is reigniting Syria’s long-simmering conflict as the wider region is rocked by wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday.
The attack was launched from insurgent-held areas of northwest Syria that remain out of Assad’s reach.
Military planes strike on the outskirts of Aleppo
Two Syrian military sources said Russian and Syrian military aircraft targeted insurgents in an Aleppo suburb on Saturday.
Speaking on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow viewed the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. “We are in favor of the Syrian authorities restoring order in the region and restoring constitutional order as quickly as possible,” he said.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a rescue service operating in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, said in an article on X that the Syrian government and Russian planes carried out airstrikes on residential neighborhoods, a gas station and a school in Idlib, in the hands of rebels, killing four people. civilians and injuring six others.
The two Syrian military sources said Russia had promised Damascus additional military aid that would begin arriving in the next 72 hours. Authorities closed Aleppo’s airport and roads leading to the city, the two military sources and a third military source said.
The Syrian army was ordered to follow orders for a “safe withdrawal” from the main areas of the city that rebels had entered, the three military sources said.
Iran’s role in the region
Rebels, including Turkish-backed factions, said Friday their fighters were sweeping various neighborhoods in Aleppo.
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, commander of the rebel Jaish al-Izza brigade, said their rapid advance had been aided by the lack of Iranian-backed manpower to support the government in the wider Aleppo province .
Iran’s allies in the region have suffered a series of blows from Israel as the war in Gaza spread to the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart on Friday, accused the United States and Israel of being behind the insurgent attack.
Opposition fighters said the campaign was a response to intensified strikes in recent weeks against civilians by Russian and Syrian air forces in parts of Idlib province, and aimed to preempt any attack by the Syrian army.
Opposition sources in contact with Turkish intelligence said Turkey, which supports the rebels, had given the green light to the offensive. Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment Saturday.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that clashes between rebels and government forces had led to an unwanted escalation of tensions.
In a statement, spokesman Oncu Keceli said avoiding further instability in the region was Turkey’s priority, adding that Ankara had warned that recent attacks on Idlib were undermining the spirit and implementation de-escalation agreements.
