Syria: Jihadist rebel forces regain control of Aleppo after surprise offensive against al-Assad's regime

According to various reports, Syrian jihadist rebels, who oppose the regime of Bashar al-Assad, have taken control of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, located some 360 kilometers from the capital Damascus by road.

Amid heavy fighting between thousands of rebels and Al-Assad's army. On the eve, Mohammad Al-Bashir - head of the Syrian Salvation Government, a prominent ally of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - claimed that Aleppo had been "liberated" from al-Assad's regime and that the city was entering a new era.

"People of Aleppo, your liberation from the clutches of this criminal regime brings in a new era of pride and dignity," al-Bashir said in remarks reported by the Wall Street Journal.

HTS is a Sunni Islamist group that the Trump administration designated in 2018 as a terrorist organization. The United States also considers HTS an offshoot of the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front.

According to Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies and associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, Aleppo appears to have fallen into the hands of jihadist militants.

"Syrian rebels reach the gates of the Aleppo Citadel in the heart of the old city. Those saying that the rebels have not reached Saadallah al-Jabiri Square cannot be correct. No shots being fired. Apparently the Syria Army is not contesting the center of Aleppo at present," Landis wrote on his X account after citing a video showing a jihadist militant in the citadel.

Charles Lister, who heads the Middle East Institute's Syria program, also reported that jihadist militants are in the heart of Aleppo and have taken over the city.

According to CNN, several geolocated videos show that rebels are walking or driving cars through the streets. One in particular warns of fighters next to the statue of Bassel al-Assad, President Assad's late brother, in the eastern end of the city's New Aleppo district.

The Syrian Army, which answers to al-Assad, acknowledged it is facing a "major attack" and said it is "reinforcing all locations along the various battlefronts," however, several Aleppo citizens have told international media that government military forces have withdrawn from several neighborhoods in the western part of the city.

The seizure of Aleppo comes after rebel forces on Wednesday launched the biggest offensive carried out against the Syrian regime since March 2020, when Russia, an ally of Al-Assad; and Turkey, which backs the rebels; reached an agreement to halt fighting for several years.

However, the fighting returned amid a favorable outlook for the jihadists, with Russia focused on Ukraine and Iran muzzled by the success of Israeli offensives in Gaza and Lebanon against Hamas and Hezbollah, its proxies. For the time being, most of the fighting took place in northwestern Syria, with the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib taking center stage in the clashes.

Al-Assad, an expert in surviving popular revolutions, nearly fell in 2011, when an armed insurrection set out to depose him from power. However, thanks to the backing of Russian aircraft and military support from Iran and its allies, including terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah, he suppressed the uprising with bombings, mass arrests of opponents and chemical weapons.

At the time, Aleppo was a symbol of the civilian and armed rebellion following the 2011 protests. After more than a year of pressure and fighting, the jihadist opposition recaptured several parts of the city in 2012, but then, four years later, the country's largest city was returned to regime hands due to a bombing campaign by Russian and Syrian regime aircraft.

A total takeover of Aleppo would be a major symbolic and strategic prize for the rebels, as well as a setback for the Damascus regime and its allies, Russia and Iran.

This Thursday, in the face of advances in Aleppo, Russian and Al-Assad forces' aviation carried out bombing raids in the region and, according to various reports, some 255 people were killed since the fighting began, mostly rebels and Syrian Army soldiers.

Also, some 14,000 people fled their homes as rebels advanced through the countryside taking control of dozens of villages.

Karam Shaar, director of a Syria-focused consultancy, told the Wall Street Journal that the rebels have advanced rapidly thanks to the introduction of new technologies, including drones, into their arsenal.

"The control over Aleppo is happening at a spectacular pace because everyone is panicking and everyone is leaving," Shaar said. "The operation is to control Aleppo and to pressure the regime into negotiating."

As fighting continues and videos of rebels in Aleppo circulate on social media, the UN humanitarian affairs office reported at least 125 incidents of shelling, airstrikes and other attacks in Aleppo and Idlib in recent days.

At least 12 civilians were killed on Wednesday and Thursday, including four children. Another 46 were wounded. Earlier on Friday there was also a deadly attack on the Aleppo University residence, in which four students were killed by an artillery shell.