Syria war monitor says rebels control 'most of' Aleppo city

A monitor of Syria's war said today (30 November) that jihadist rebels now controlled a majority of Aleppo city, reporting Russian air strikes on parts of Syria's second city for the first time since 2016.

"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions... took control of most of the city and government centres and prisons", said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), reports AFP.

It added that overnight, Russian "warplanes launched raids on areas of Aleppo city for the first time since 2016".

Earlier, SOHR Director Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions had taken control of half of the city of Aleppo early today and "there has been no fighting, not a single shot was fired, as regime forces withdrew".

Before that, Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city, three military sources told Reuters, as rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said they had reached the heart of Aleppo.

The opposition fighters, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, carried out a surprise sweep through government-held towns this week and reached Aleppo nearly a decade after having been forced out by Assad and his allies.

Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, Russia conducts strikes in support of Assad

Russia, one of Assad's key allies, has promised Damascus extra military aid to thwart the rebels, two military sources said, adding new hardware would start arriving in the next 72 hours.

The Syrian army has been told to follow "safe withdrawal" orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels have entered, three army sources told Reuters.

The rebels began their incursion on Wednesday, and by late Friday, an operations room representing the offensive said they were sweeping through various neighbourhoods of Aleppo.

They are returning to the city for the first time since 2016, when Assad and his allies Russia, Iran, and regional Shi'ite militias retook it, with the insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege.

Mustafa Abdul Jaber, a commander in the Jaish al-Izza rebel brigade, said their speedy advance this week had been helped by a lack of Iran-backed manpower in the broader Aleppo province. Iran's allies in the region have suffered a series of blows at the hands of Israel as the Gaza war has expanded through the Middle East.

The opposition fighters have said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in rebel-held Idlib and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army.

Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkey, which supports the rebels, had given a green light to the offensive.

But Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said on Friday that Turkey sought to avoid greater instability in the region and had warned recent attacks undermined de-escalation agreements.

The attack is the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.