This Saturday, after an offensive against government forces, the jihadists took the “major part” of Aleppo, Syria’s second city. Faced with this, the Russian army carried out several raids on this citadel, for the first time since 2016.
Jihadists seize Syria's second city. This Saturday, November 30, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), jihadist fighters and their allies took the “major part” of Aleppo, after an offensive against government forces. The NGO also reported that Russian raids took place on this second city in Syria, for the first time since 2016.
“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebel factions took control of most of the city, government buildings and prisons,” the OSDH said.
277 people died in the fighting
But, concretely, how were they able to seize Aleppo? According to the director of the UK-based NGO, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, the jihadists and their allies reached the historic citadel of Aleppo after Syrian regime forces withdrew “without combat” during this last phase.
The terrorists entered the city on Friday, November 29, after two days of offensive. The latter ended years of relative calm in northwest Syria. In total, 277 people died in these fighting, according to a report given earlier by the OSDH. They are the most violent since 2020 in the region, where the province of Aleppo, largely held by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, borders the last major rebel and jihadist stronghold of Idlib.
The rebels also took control of the strategic town of Saraqeb, south of Aleppo, at the intersection of two highways linking Damascus to Aleppo and Latakia, according to the NGO.
“Two suicide attacks with car bombs”
In fact, armed men were seen in Aleppo by two witnesses, causing scenes of panic in the large northern city. According to an AFP correspondent, clashes broke out between the attackers, Syrian forces and groups supporting them.
The OSDH specified that the jihadist group HTS and allied groups, some close to Turkey, had reached the gates of the city on Friday after “two suicide attacks with car bombs”. This same source indicated that the terrorist group then gradually took control of a growing number of neighborhoods.
Russian army bombs 'extremist' groups
The Syrian army, which deployed reinforcements in Aleppo, according to a security official, assured that it had repelled “the major offensive of terrorist groups” and regained several positions.
The Russian army, for its part, announced that its air force was bombing “extremist” groups in Syria, in support of the regime’s forces, according to Russian agencies. The Syrian air force also launched intensive raids on the Idlib region, the OSDH said.
