Syrian rebels have completely taken control of Aleppo
Syrian rebels have completely taken control of Aleppo (illustrative photo: Getty Images)
On December 1, groups opposed to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad completely captured Aleppo during an offensive. Thus, government forces lost control of the country's second-largest city for the first time in more than 10 years, according to Alarabiya News and Barron's.
Assad's forces, backed by Iran and Russia, failed to hold Aleppo, which began fighting a few days ago during a massive rebel offensive.
According to the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, in a conversation with AFP journalists, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and allied opposition groups “control the city of Aleppo, except for the areas controlled by Kurdish forces.”
The Observatory also said that separately, HTS and other rebel groups seized Aleppo airport and dozens of nearby towns yesterday, November 30. This happened after they also took control of most of Aleppo yesterday.
The Observatory says that Syrian and Russian aircraft carried out a series of strikes on Sunday to support Assad's forces.
As a result of these air strikes, at least 12 people were killed in Aleppo. There were also 5 victims in the city due to terrorist attacks near Aleppo University, Rahman said.
In addition, according to the Observatory, Russian strikes also killed 8 civilians in Idlib, including two children and a woman (this city is considered a “rebel bastion”).
Rebel offensive in Syria
As previously reported, a large-scale offensive by anti-Assad forces in Syria has been going on since Wednesday. On Friday, it became known that they already control a part of Aleppo, while government forces and the army have left the city and are preparing a counteroffensive.
According to the Reuters news agency, on November 29, the Kremlin promised Assad additional military support, and it could allegedly be sent to Syria within the next 72 hours.
On December 1, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said that Russian troops were suffering losses during the fighting in Syria.
It was also reported that Syrian dictator Assad broke his silence on the situation in the country amid the rebel offensive. According to him, Damascus relies on the help of allies in an attempt to repel the offensive of anti-government forces.
