A rebel alliance launched a surprise attack this week, sweeping eastward through villages outside the city and reigniting a conflict that had been largely static for years. It is the first time Syrian rebels have set foot in Aleppo since government forces regained control during the Civil War in 2016.
Rebel fighters have been seen at key locations, with one video showing armed men waving an opposition flag and yelling “God is great” in Arabic at a central square.
Another clip shows rebels at the city’s citadel, which is also in central Aleppo. At least one man in the clip is armed, as he says: “We are the first to arrive and the first to conquer.”
The only exception appears to be the northeastern part of the city, where a few neighborhoods remain under the control of government forces and Iranian militia allies.
Syria’s defense ministry said dozens of soldiers have been killed in the Aleppo offensive. It acknowledged that rebel forces had entered the city but claimed that they “were unable to establish solid positions” and reinforcements were arriving in preparation for a counteroffensive.
In response to the rebel advance, the Russian air force on Friday launched an aerial offensive against Syrian armed opposition forces in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, Russian state media reported.
Kurdish forces have also expanded their control of some neighborhoods of Aleppo, residents said. Prior to this week’s attack they held two Kurdish neighborhoods but have now moved into areas that the Syrian regime used to control.
The Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, have a history of conflict with other rebel groups in northern Syria.
Rebels lay out their goals
The rebels are part of a newly formed coalition called the “Military Operations Command,” which includes a broad spectrum of opposition fighters including Islamist factions and moderate groups once backed by the US. The coalition was announced Wednesday ahead of the attack on Aleppo.
Lt. Colonel Hassan Abdelghani, a commander in the coalition, said that their goal was to “liberate our occupied territories” from what he called the “criminal regime” as well as Iranian militias.
The offensive, which began Wednesday, is the first major flare-up in years between the Syrian opposition and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has ruled the war-torn country since 2000.
Syria’s civil war began during the 2011 Arab Spring as the regime suppressed a pro-democracy uprising against Assad. The country plunged into a full-scale civil war as a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to combat government troops.
The conflict swelled as other regional actors and world powers – from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia – piled in, escalating the civil war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.” ISIS was also able to gain a foothold in the country before suffering significant blows.
Since the 2020 ceasefire agreement, the conflict has remained largely dormant, with low-level clashes between the rebels and Assad’s regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the United Nations, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.