Insurgents overran Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, after detonating two car bombs on Friday, and clashed with government forces west of the city, according to a Syrian war monitor and fighters .
It was the first time the city had been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were driven from eastern Aleppo neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were supported by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.
Witnesses in Aleppo city said residents fled neighborhoods to the west of the city because of the missiles and exchanges of fire. The government has made no comment on the insurgents violating city limits.
Syria’s armed forces said in a statement Friday that they had clashed with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, destroying several of their drones and heavy weapons. He vowed to repel the attack and accused the insurgents of spreading false information about their advances.
Thousands of insurgents have been advancing towards the city of Aleppo since the shock offensive launched on Wednesday, seizing several towns and villages along the way.
The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, which have supported Syrian government forces since 2015, are preoccupied with their own domestic battle.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said insurgents detonated two car bombs Friday on the western edge of the city.
An insurgent commander released a recorded message posted on social media calling on city residents to cooperate with advancing forces.
Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency reported that opposition insurgents entered downtown Aleppo on Friday. He indicated that the insurgents “crossed the defense lines of the regime forces along the Hamdaniyya, New Aleppo and Zahra axis, on the outskirts of the city.”
He added that insurgents now control around 70 sites in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
Syrian state media reported earlier Friday that projectiles fired by insurgents landed in student accommodation at Aleppo University in the city center, killing four people, including two students. Public transport to the city was also diverted from the main highway linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus to avoid clashes, the report said.
Fighters also advanced on the town of Saraqab in northwestern Idlib province, a strategic area that would help secure supply lines to Aleppo.
This week’s advances were one of the largest recorded by opposition factions, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and come after weeks of little simmering violence. It is the most intense fighting in northwest Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.
Syria’s armed forces said the insurgents were violating a 2019 agreement that eased fighting in the region, which has been the last opposition stronghold for years.
The War Observatory said dozens of fighters from both sides were killed in the fighting that began Wednesday. The insurgents took control of more than 50 villages during their advance, which appeared to have caught government forces off guard.
Hezbollah, the leader of an Iran-linked alliance that supports the Syrian government, is engaged in a war with Israel that has intensified since September. A ceasefire was announced on Wednesday, the day Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also stepped up attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria over the past 70 days.
“Hezbollah was the main force in government control of the city,” said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Observatory.
Insurgents reported earlier Friday that fighters had taken control of the Scientific Research Center neighborhood, about 4 kilometers from the western suburbs of Aleppo city. Government-linked media denied that insurgents had seized it.
The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the claims.
The insurgents posted videos online showing them using drones to advance, a new weapon they had not previously had access to during the early stages of their clash with government forces. It is unclear to what extent drones were used on the battlefield.
Turkey’s Anadolu agency, reporting from Idlib, said insurgents attacked a military air base southeast of the city of Aleppo with drones early Friday, destroying a helicopter. Opposition groups seized heavy weapons, depots and military vehicles belonging to government forces during their advance.
Aid groups said the fighting had displaced thousands of families and forced some services to be suspended. Opposition fighters say their offensive will allow the return of thousands of displaced people who have had to flee government bombings in recent weeks.
The 2016 battle for Aleppo marked a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters since 2011 protests against Bashar al-Assad’s regime escalated into all-out war.
Russia, Iran and their allies helped Syrian government forces regain control of all of Aleppo that year, after a grueling military campaign and weeks-long siege.
Turkey has been a main backer of a range of opposition forces and its troops have established a military presence in parts of northwest Syria. Separately, and primarily in eastern Syria, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants.
