Rebel groups launch attacks on Syria’s Aleppo city
At least four people have been killed as rebel groups launched attacks on Aleppo for the first time in years, Syrian state media reported, as the rebel forces ramped up their assault on government-held positions in the country’s northwest.
The rebels launched a ground attack on the city of Aleppo after blowing up two car bombs on Friday, and were clashing with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to a Syria war monitor and fighters.
The Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported that the armed groups had entered Aleppo city centre, without providing further details.
The Syrian army said on Friday it repelled a major offensive on the city.
“Our forces continue to repel the major offensive launched by armed terrorist groups,” the army said in a statement, adding that it was “able to retake control of certain positions”.
The assault is the most intense fighting in northwestern Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters, and has come after weeks of low-simmering violence.
Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed rebel-held areas northwest Syria near the border with Turkiye on Thursday to try to push back the offensive that had captured territory for the first time in years, Syrian army and rebel sources said.
Reporting from Hatay, Turkiye, Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu said that opposition sources say they have seized control of more than 47 villages.
“They have taken control of the countryside of Western Aleppo. But of course, they are close to the city centre of Aleppo… Also the opposition factions took control of the M5 highway which is a very strong logistics and military transfer route,” she said.
“Given the situation in southern Lebanon, the opposition saw an opportunity to gain back these places from the Syrian government,” she added.
