Syrian insurgents have breached the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, after blowing up two car bombs, and were clashing with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to a war monitor and fighters.
It is the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were ousted from Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods following a gruelling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.
Syria’s armed forces said in a statement on Friday it has been clashing with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, destroying several of their drones and heavy weapons.
It vowed to repel the attack and accused the insurgents of spreading false information about their advances.
Thousands of insurgents have been advancing towards Aleppo since they launched a shock offensive on Wednesday. They have seized several towns and villages along the way.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the insurgents blew up two car bombs at the city’s western edge on Friday.
An insurgent commander issued a recorded message posted on social media calling on the city’s residents to co-operate with the advancing forces.
The Turkey state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the opposition insurgents entered Aleppo city centre on Friday, but offered no further details.
Syria’s state media reported earlier on Friday that projectiles from insurgents landed in the student accommodation area at Aleppo’s university in the city centre, killing four people, including two students.
Public transportation to the city had also been diverted from the main road linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus to avoid clashes, state-controlled media reported.
Residents in Aleppo reported hearing sounds of missiles on the city’s outskirts.
Fighters also advanced on the town of Saraqab, in the north-western province of Idlib, a strategic area that would secure supply lines to Aleppo.
This week’s advances were one of the largest by opposition factions, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and come after weeks of low simmering violence. It is most intense fighting in north-western Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.
Syria’s armed forces said the insurgents are violating a 2019 agreement that de-escalated fighting in the area, which has been the last remaining opposition stronghold for years.
State media reported air strikes on the insurgents’ positions in Aleppo and the Idlib countryside.
The war monitor observatory said dozens of fighters from both sides have been killed in the battles that started on Wednesday. The insurgents have seized control of more than 50 villages in their advance, which seems to have caught the government forces unprepared.
The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, who had backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battle at home.
Israel and Hezbollah, the lead group in the Iran-backed alliance, have been locked in a war that escalated since September.
A ceasefire was announced on Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.
“Hezbollah was the main force in the government’s control of the city,” said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the war monitor.
Insurgents posted videos online showing they were using drones in their advance, a new weapon they had not had previously in the earlier stages of their confrontation with government forces. It was not clear to what extent the drones were used on the battleground.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, reporting from Idlib, said insurgents attacked a military airbase south-east of Aleppo with drones early Friday, destroying a helicopter. It said the opposition groups seized heavy weapons, depots and military vehicles belonging to the government forces during their advance.
Aid groups said the fighting has displaced thousands of families, and forced some services to be suspended. The opposition fighters said their offensive will allow the return of thousands of displaced people who were forced to flee a government bombardment in recent weeks.
The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters since the 2011 protests against Bashar Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.
Russia and Iran and its allied groups had helped Syrian government forces reclaim control of all of Aleppo that year, after a gruelling military campaign and a siege that lasted for weeks.
Turkey has been a main backer of an array of opposition forces and its troops have established a military presence in parts of north-western Syria. Separately and largely in the east of Syria, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting so-called Islamic State militants.
