Aleppo in Crisis: Rebels Advance, Army Seals Off City
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RDA Gulf Correspondent - . November 30, 2024
- . Update: November 30, 2024 3:16 pm
Rebels against President Bashar al-Assad reported to have entered the center of Aleppo on Saturday, November 30th 2024 causing Syrian authorities to close the airport and all highways leading into the city.
In a surprise attack that sent residents fleeing and brought more uncertainty to a region that is suffering from multiple wars, opposition fighters led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) broke into Syria’s largest city on Friday and clashed with the government forces for the first time since 2016.
One of Assad’s main friends, Russia has assured Damascus that it will provide additional military support to stop the rebels with fresh equipment beginning to arrive within the next 72 hours.
Aleppo’s progress came after insurgents launched a surprise onslaught on Wednesday when thousands of fighters tore through towns and villages in the northwest of Syria. Witnesses in Aleppo reported that residents evacuated neighborhoods on the outside of the city due to gunfire and missiles. Dozens of fighters from both sides were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which keeps an eye on the nation’s ongoing civil war.
Since they were driven out of eastern neighborhoods in 2016 after a bloody military assault in which Syrian government forces were supported by Russia, Iran and its allies, HTS forces have not attacked Aleppo for the past 6 years.
However, neither government soldiers nor their allies showed any indication of a major resistance this time. Rather, militants disseminated messages on social media urging troops to surrender and tales surfaced of government forces disintegrating in the face of advances.
HTS made some of the biggest advances in recent years this week. The combat in northwest Syria is at its worst since 2020 when government forces took back regions that the opposition had previously controlled.
