Syria: Islamist Rebels Capture Most of Aleppo, Expand Offensive as Russian Military Abandons Bases
The Daily Telegraph: “Syria’s rebels seized most of Aleppo on Saturday as their sweeping advance ousted Russian forces from at least three military bases around the city.”
Islamist rebel forces captured most of Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and expanded their offensive to other provinces as the renewed uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime entered its fifth day.
Surprised by the rapid advance of the Turkish-backed rebels, the Russian military abandoned several bases in the area, news reports say.
“Opposition fighters raced through Aleppo, Hama and Idlib provinces in a lightning advance that has stunned Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported Saturday night. “Syria’s rebels seized most of Aleppo on Saturday as their sweeping advance ousted Russian forces from at least three military bases around the city,” the newspaper added.
The Russian military intensified airstrikes on rebel forces in a bid to halt their advance. “Russian and Syrian jets struck the rebel-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military sources said, as President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush insurgents who had swept into the city of Aleppo,” Reuters reported Sunday. “On Saturday, Russian and Syrian jets bombed other towns in Idlib province, which had fallen completely under rebel control in the boldest rebel assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.”
The Assad regime dispatched troops to stop the Islamist rebels from making further territorial gains. “The Syrian military on Sunday sent reinforcements to halt the advance of jihadi insurgents in Hama province after the rebels seized most of the city of Aleppo and some nearby towns in a surprise offensive that is posing a massive challenge for Syria’s autocratic leader, Bashar Assad,” Germany’s state-run DW TV reported Sunday.”
The rebel offensive, which began on Wednesday, is being led by the Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
The Sky News (UK) reported the ongoing fighting:
Syrian and Russian jets have launched joint air strikes on Syrian rebels who are advancing through the country after seizing its second-largest city.
The rebels, led by the Salafi jihadi group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, took over most of Aleppo in a shock offensive on Saturday. They claim to have also entered the city of Hama.
Military air strikes that hit the entrance of Aleppo University Hospital have killed 12 civilians and injured 23 others, the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, has said. (…)
On Saturday thousands of insurgents took over most of Aleppo, controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province.
They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists.
“Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo has fallen from government control,” the French news agency AFP reported Sunday afternoon, citing local Syrian sources. The fall of Aleppo could spell doom for the Assad clan, which has ruled the country for over 40 years. In 2016, the Assad regime gained control of Aleppo with military support of Russia and Iran — consolidating its hold on the country after five years of civil war.
The Iran-backed regime controls two-thirds of Syria, sharing the country under a ceasefire arrangement with Islamist, Kurdish, and other ethnic militia forces.
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Comments
The devil you know, and the devil you are about to.
I understand there are maybe 5 thousand Russian specialists remaining in Aleppo and the surrounding area. Maybe even all of Syria.
I think you are seeing the reason Russia is bringing North Korea and Yemin into the Ukraine fighting. They are not only stripping bare all their other commitments like Syria but are having difficulty recruiting or conscripting in Russia itself. I think this is the reason Trump will not have a problem getting the fighting stopped. Russia can not arm itself with reports of depot’s being stripped bare even of WW2 surplus equipment and now it can’t replace it’s army.
For the time being, Russia is largely de-fanged, due to their commitments in the Ukraine.
For its part, Iran has been stripped naked, what with Hamas collapsing and Hezbollah more or less neutered: Iran can use neither of them to support Assad in any way, shape or manner.
Iran itself, much weakened without Hamas and Hezbollah to do their bidding, is standing alone against Israel. And Israel has free access to the sky over Iran and one heck of a missile defense.
Things are getting interesting in the Middle East. I don’t know what Trump’s going to do with the Houties, if anything.
But the Houties are effectively controlling the Red Sea, which means higher insurance fees for ships traversing the Suez Canal, or much greater fuel and time costs for ships going around the Cape of Good Hope. That means every nation is paying more for goods going from Europe to the Indian Ocean.
I suppose Trump could go back to his original strategy of sanctions to strangle Iran (if that option would work a second time), and with them the poorer, the Houties would have a much more difficult time getting arms and advisors.
We live in interesting times.
Iran needs an increase in interesting times, followed by Houties seeing the same.
To paraphrase Kissinger about the Iran-Iraq war. Can both sides lose?
Iranian backed islamist regime. NATO member Turkey backed islamist rebels.
And as with Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Ukraine, Joe Biden is funding both sides.
GOOD NEWS: Syrian & Russia are getting their asses kicked.
BAD NEWS: It’s Al Qaeda who’s doing the kicking.
WORSE NEWS: We’re financing everything and everyone.
I don’t know how it can be worse. But, I’m confident it will be worse.
Russia was the only thing propping up assad. If russia needs to redeploy because of war in ukraine, then syria is going to implode.