BEIRUT – Thousands of Syrian rebels poured into Aleppo in heavily armored vehicles and vans, moving into areas such as the ancient citadel on Saturday, a day after entering Syria’s largest city with little resistance from government forces, according to residents and fighters.
Witnesses said two airstrikes on the outskirts of the city late Friday targeted militants and struck near residential areas. The war monitor said 20 soldiers were killed.
The Syrian army in a statement on Saturday said that in order to play a major role in the attack on Aleppo and save people’s lives, it has replanted and is preparing to attack. The statement acknowledged that the insurgents had entered large parts of the city but said they had not yet found bases or checkpoints.
Terrorists were filmed outside the police headquarters, in the city center and outside the Aleppo Citadel. They tore down posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, trampled some and burned others.
Assad’s surprise takeover is a major embarrassment for Assad, who was able to regain control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from the eastern areas following a heavy military campaign in which his forces were supported by Russia, Iran and the country. united parties.
Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since then. The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebels after the 2011 protests against the Assad regime turned into an all-out war.
The Aleppo offensive followed weeks of low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, which has supported the Syrian opposition, has failed in its efforts to stop the Syrian government’s offensive, which has been seen as a violation of the 2019 agreement sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran to establish a defiance line.
The provocation came as Iran-linked groups, particularly Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has been supporting Syrian government forces since 2015, are busy with their own wars at home. Hezbollah’s two-month ceasefire with Israel came into effect on Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition announced its offensive. Israel has also increased its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.
Terrorists raise a flag over the Aleppo Citadel
A witness from Aleppo said government forces remained at the city’s airport and military base, but most of the forces had already left the city in the south. The Syrian Kurdish forces occupy two locations.
The redeployment “is a temporary measure and (the central military commander and the armed forces) will work to ensure the safety and peace of all our people in Aleppo,” the army statement said.
Speaking from the heart of the city in Saadallah Aljabri square, opposition fighter Mohammad Al Abdo, said it was the first time he returned to Aleppo in 13 years, when his older brother was killed at the beginning of the war.
“God willing, the entire province of Aleppo will be liberated” from government forces, he said.
There was little traffic in the city center on Saturday. Opposition soldiers fired in the air in celebration but there was no conflict or the presence of government forces.
Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned Friday night after hearing that rebels were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories.”
“As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself that this is impossible! How did this happen?” He said he was walking around the city at night, visiting the fortress, where the terrorists raised their flags, the main square and the university of Aleppo, and the last place he was before he was forced to leave for the countryside.
“I entered the (empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting, ‘People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,’” Alhamdo told The Associated Press in a series of messages.
The insurgents launched their shocking offensive in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday and fought for control of dozens of towns and villages before entering Aleppo on Friday.
The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported airstrikes on the outskirts of Aleppo city targeting rebel supply lines. It posted a video of a missile landing on a crowd of soldiers and vehicles, on a street full of trees and buildings.
City hospitals are full
Goy fighters were killed in plane crashes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Residents of Aleppo reported clashes and gunfire. Others fled to fight.
Schools and government offices were closed on Saturday as most people stayed at home, according to Sham FM, a government-sponsored station. The bakeries were open. Eyewitnesses said the rebels have deployed soldiers around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the city’s airport was closed and all flights grounded. On Friday, Aleppo’s two main hospitals were reportedly full of patients while many private facilities were closed, OCHA said.
On social media, rebels were photographed outside the Aleppo Citadel, a medieval palace in the heart of the old city, and one of the largest in the world. In cell phone videos, they recorded themselves having conversations with residents who visited their homes, trying to reassure them that they would not be taken advantage of.
Syria’s Kurdish-led administration in the country’s east says an estimated 3,000 people, most of them students, have arrived in their villages after fleeing fighting in Aleppo, which has a Kurdish majority.
State media reported that a number of “terrorists,” including sleepers, had entered parts of the city.
On a Saturday morning TV show, commentators said the military buildup and Russian aid would drive out “terrorist groups,” accusing Turkey of supporting the rebels’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
Russian news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, the Russian Defense Ministry’s liaison officer in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes had targeted and killed 200 terrorists who launched an attack in the northwest on Friday. It did not provide further details.
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