Syrian rebels against the country's President Bashar al-Assad have broken into the country for the first time since 2016 after launching a shocking rebel offensive on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported on Friday. He marched towards one of the largest cities.
The march into Aleppo was led by various rebel groups, including the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), The New York Times reported. reported. According to the Associated Press, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday's incursion mainly affected rural areas in northwestern Syria, forcing residents to flee their neighborhoods and killing dozens of fighters on both sides.
Many of the towns and villages affected by the advance in Aleppo's northern province have been controlled by the al-Assad regime, backed by Iran and Russia, since 2016, Reuters reported.
However, the Associated Press reported that government forces and their allies did not appear to have faced any major backlash in response to the recent invasion. Instead, the report described them as “melting away.” According to the New York Times, experts said the invasion shows the weakness of Syrian government forces and the growing capabilities of rebel forces.
CNN reported On Friday, rebels announced they had captured about 60 towns and villages that were controlled by government forces.
Friday's attack came after an artillery shell hit student housing at Aleppo University earlier in the day, killing four people, according to CNN, the Syrian state news agency.
A day earlier, airstrikes and shelling in rebel-held areas of Aleppo and Idlib killed at least 15 people, including women and children, and wounded more than 30 others, CNN reported, according to volunteer rescue groups.
The start of the offensive, which began on Wednesday, has reawakened a conflict that had largely subsided since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire in northern Syria, CNN reported.
This progress was made during the Syrian civil war. Syria's civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime tried to stop a pro-democracy uprising against al-Assad. The rebel Free Syrian Army emerged against government forces.
