In Syria, jihadists and their allies take control of part of Aleppo; Russian and Syrian air forces bomb the rebel stronghold of Idlib

Russian and Syrian planes carried out, on Friday, November 29, twenty-three intensive raids on the city of Idlib and its region, the last jihadist and rebel stronghold in north-west Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Rights reported. for Man (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in Syria. These raids come as fighters from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTC, Levant Liberation Organization) and groups allied to them, some of which are close to Turkey, which control Idlib, launched a vast offensive against the areas held by the Syrian regime.

The jihadists entered Friday afternoon “in the west and southwest districts” of Aleppo, OSDH director Rami Abdel-Rahmane told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He reported, in the middle of the afternoon, that the jihadist and rebel forces had “ took control of five neighborhoods » of the city, while the regime forces “did not put up much resistance “. The Syrian army said in a statement posted on Facebook in mid-afternoon that it was operating in the areas of Aleppo and Idlib to confront this « offensive majeure ». “Our armed forces were able to inflict heavy losses (…)killing and injuring hundreds of terrorists », Details the text, which adds that dozens of vehicles were destroyed and that seventeen drones were shot down. The army finally assures that certain areas were able to be recaptured, without providing further details.

Two witnesses confirmed to AFP that they had seen armed men and reported panic in Aleppo in the middle of the day. A little earlier, the jihadists and their allies had reached “ almost 2 kilometers away » from the large city in northern Syria, Rami Abdel-Rahmane said. Still according to the OSDH, the combatants “took control of more than 50 towns and villages in the Aleppo and Idlib regions” which were held by the regime. The NGO also reports that the fighting reached the strategic town of Saraqeb, held by the regime, located south of Aleppo, at the intersection of two highways, on Friday. The jihadists and their allies cut off the vital road linking the capital, Damascus, to Aleppo on Thursday.

The most violent clashes since 2020

According to the official Syrian agency SANA, the jihadists bombed the big city for the first time in four years, targeting the university campus, where four civilians were killed. The death toll from the fighting since the start of the offensive launched on Wednesday stands at at least 277 dead, most of whom are combatants, the NGO said late in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, the OSDH reported 24 civilians killed, including 19 in strikes by Russian aircraft, an ally of the regime, on rebel areas.

In a press conference, the head of ” government “ self-proclaimed leader in Idlib, Mohammad Al-Bashir, justified the offensive on Thursday by saying that the regime had “began bombing civilian areas, which caused the exodus of tens of thousands of civilians”.

These are the most violent clashes since 2020 in northwest Syria, where the province of Aleppo, largely in the hands of Bashar Al-Assad's regime, borders the last major rebel and jihadist stronghold of Idlib. .

More than 14,000 people displaced, according to the UN

The Kremlin on Friday called on the Syrian authorities to “bring order to this area as quickly as possible and restore constitutional order”his spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, declared to the press, denouncing the current offensive as a “attack on the sovereignty of Syria”. The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghtchi, for his part, “underlined Iran's continued support for the government, nation and army of Syria in their fight against terrorism”during a telephone call with his Syrian counterpart, Bassam Al-Sabbagh. For his part, the spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry called for “ fin ” to “ attacks » about the city of Idlib and its region. “ We called for an end to the attacks. Recent clashes have generated an unwanted escalation of tensions in the border region”he wrote on the social network

This is Turkey's first official reaction since the start of the jihadists' lightning offensive against the Syrian regime, which took them to Aleppo, the country's second city, in two days. “It is of the utmost importance for Turkey that a new phase of even greater instability is avoided, and that civilians are not affected”estimates the ministry, which emphasizes that “maintain calm in Idlib and the border region (…) is a priority for Turkey ».

The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that “more than 14,000 people, almost half of whom are children, have been displaced” due to the violence. Northern Syria has benefited from a precarious calm in recent years, made possible by a ceasefire established after a regime offensive in March 2020.

The truce was sponsored by Moscow with Turkey, which supports some Syrian rebel groups on its border. The Syrian regime regained control of a large part of the country in 2015 with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies. Syria's civil war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions.