Russian and Syrian planes carried out new raids this Monday, December 2 on rebel areas in north-west Syria, killing 11 civilians including children.
Syrian and Russian planes bombed rebel areas in northwest Syria on Monday, December 2, killing 11 civilians including children, an NGO said. Bombings which occur in reaction to the loss of the city of Aleppo by the regime during an offensive led by the insurgents.
This is the first time since the start of the war in Syria in 2011 that the government, an ally of Iran and Russia, has completely lost control of the northern city. A scathing setback inflicted by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied Syrian rebel factions, some of which are supported by Turkey.
This coalition of anti-government fighters, present in force in the province of Idlib (northwest), launched a dazzling offensive on November 27, taking dozens of localities and seizing the northern city of Aleppo with the exception northern neighborhoods inhabited by Kurds, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
Russia wants to help Syria “repel” the rebels
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sought to obtain the support of his allies in the face of this dazzling assault which left more than 457 dead, mostly combatants but also including more than 72 civilians, according to the Observatory, an NGO with 'a vast network of sources in Syria.
Russia, which has several bases in Syria, has said it wants to help Bashar al-Assad and his forces “push back” the rebels in the provinces of Idlib, Hama, further south, and Aleppo, while the Iran has reiterated its “firm” support for the Assad regime.
The day after deadly strikes in Aleppo and Idlib, Russian and Syrian planes carried out new raids on Monday against regions in the hands of rebels in the province of Idlib, targeting in particular the eponymous town and a camp for displaced people, said the OSDH reporting 11 civilians killed, including five children.
In the city of Aleppo, AFPTV footage showed armed rebels patrolling the streets of Aleppo in military vehicles or on foot. Some set fire to a Syrian flag or a portrait of Bashar al-Assad, others waved the flag of the revolution. Although most streets appeared empty, Syrians came out to cheer the advance of anti-government fighters. The latter “want to be benevolent and “distributed free bread at the crossroads” on Sunday, said a resident contacted by telephone.
Rebels reached Aleppo's historic citadel and captured government buildings, prisons and Aleppo International Airport “without encountering significant resistance”, the OSDH said.
Turkey, support for several rebel groups
In 2015 and with crucial military support from Russia and Iran, the Assad regime launched a counter-offensive which allowed it to gradually regain control of a large part of the country and in 2016 of the entire the city of Aleppo, the economic heart of pre-war Syria.
The violence of recent days, the first of this magnitude since 2020, raises fears of a resumption of large-scale hostilities in a country divided into several zones of influence, where the belligerents are supported by different regional and international powers.
After meeting Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is due to meet Monday in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey, which controls several areas of northern Syria and supports several Syrian rebel groups, said it supports efforts to “end the tension” in this border country.
The start of the rebel offensive coincided with the entry into force of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Bashar al-Assad and Iran which emerged weakened from the war in Lebanon.
Call from Westerners for “de-escalation”
In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom called on Sunday for “de-escalation” in Syria, stressing the urgency of a “political solution”.
The United States, which also has troops on the ground in northern Syria, supports the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which fought Daesh in Syria.
The SDF are working to “safely” evacuate Kurdish civilians from areas of Aleppo province, notably the town of Tal-Rifaat, to their “safe areas in the north of the country”, where they have established an autonomous administration, declared their leader Mazloum Abdi.
On Sunday, pro-Turkish rebel groups announced that they had taken Tal Rifaat from Kurdish forces near the Turkish border, where according to the Observatory around 200,000 Syrian Kurds are surrounded.
Before their offensive, northwest Syria enjoyed an uneasy calm under a ceasefire established in 2020, under the sponsorship of Ankara and Moscow. HTS and rebels control a large part of Idlib province, as well as parts of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
