E-Paper
Syrian rebels enter majority of Aleppo city, confirms military
Insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had entered the government-controlled city of Aleppo in a surprise attack, the Syrian military said.
The Syrian military on Saturday confirmed that rebels managed to enter majority of the Aleppo city, forcing the army to further deploy forces, Reuters reported.
It also said that dozens of its troops had been killed during an insurgent attack in the northwestern region of Syria.
In the first public confirmation, the Syrian military said that insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had entered the government-controlled city of Aleppo in a surprise attack that started earlier this week.
"The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defence lines to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack," the army said.
ALSO READ | Syrian rebels enter Aleppo city after 8 years: What's happening in Syria? Why it's a challenge for President Assad?
This comes as one of the most significant challenges to President Bashar al-Assad in years, nudging the Syrian civil war frontlines that have largely been frozen since 2020.
However, the Syrian army noted that insurgents had been unable to stand at fixed positions in the city due to the military's continuous bombardment.
Earlier, two military sources had said that Russian and Syrian warplanes had targeted insurgents in an Aleppo suburb on Saturday. Putin had deployed Russian air force to Syria in 2015 to help Assad during the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011.
The insurgents began their surprise offensive earlier this week, going through government-controlled towns, and reaching Aleppo nearly a decade after the forces backed by Russia and Iran drove out the rebels from the city.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday said that Moscow considered the rebel attack to be a violation of Syria's sovereignty. "We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said.
(with inputs from Reuters)
