Syrian rebels reach historic sites in central Aleppo as government forces regroup

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Syrian rebels fanned out inside Aleppo in vehicles with makeshift armor and pickup trucks, heading toward landmarks such as the old citadel on Saturday, a day after they entered Syria’s largest city with little resistance by government forces, according to residents and fighters.

Two airstrikes on the outskirts of the city late Friday targeted rebel reinforcements and struck residential areas, witnesses said. A military observer reported that 20 militants were killed.

READ MORE: What you need to know about the surprise rebel invasion of Aleppo during Syria’s 13-year civil war

To fend off a large-scale attack on Aleppo and save lives, the Syrian military said on Saturday it had redeployed and was preparing for a counterattack. The statement acknowledged that the rebels had entered much of the city, but said they had not set up bases or checkpoints.

The rebels were filmed near police headquarters, in the city center and near the Aleppo citadel. They tore down posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, stepping on some and burning others.

The surprise seizure of power was a huge embarrassment for Assad, who regained full control of the city in 2016 after driving out rebels and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods after a grueling military campaign in which his troops were supported by Russia, Iran and his countries. allied groups.

Since then, Aleppo has never been attacked by opposition forces. The 2016 Battle of Aleppo marked a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebels after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule escalated into a full-scale war.

The offensive on Aleppo followed weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-controlled areas. Turkey, which has backed Syrian opposition groups, has failed in its diplomatic efforts to thwart the Syrian government attacks, which were seen as a violation of a 2019 deal sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran to freeze the conflict line.

The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, most notably Lebanese Hezbollah, which has supported Syrian government forces since 2015, were busy fighting their own battles at home. A truce in Hezbollah’s two-month war with Israel came into force on Wednesday, the day Syrian opposition groups announced their offensive. Over the past 70 days, Israel has also stepped up attacks on Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria.

Rebels raise flag over Aleppo citadel

A witness in Aleppo said government troops remained at the city’s airport and military academy, but most forces had already left the city from the south. Syrian Kurdish forces remained two blocks away.

The redeployment “is a temporary measure and (central military command and armed forces) will work to guarantee security and peace to all our people in Aleppo,” the military said in a statement.

Speaking in the city’s Saadallah Aljabri Square, opposition fighter Mohammad al-Abdo said he had returned to Aleppo for the first time in 13 years when his older brother was killed early in the war.

“God willing, the rest of Aleppo province will be liberated” from government forces, he said.

Traffic was light in the city center on Saturday. Opposition fighters opened fire in the air in celebration, but there were no signs of clashes or the presence of government troops.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned Friday night after learning that rebels were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories.”

“When I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself that this is impossible! How did this happen? He said he walked through the city at night, visiting the citadel where rebels raised their flags, Aleppo’s main square and university, the last place he visited before he was forced into the countryside.

“I walked through the (empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting: “People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,” Alhamdo told The Associated Press in a series of messages.

Rebels launched a shock offensive in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside on Wednesday and took control of dozens of villages and towns before entering Aleppo on Friday.

The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan reported airstrikes on the outskirts of Aleppo city targeting rebel supply lines. He posted a video of the missile landing on a gathering of militants and equipment on a street surrounded by trees and buildings.

City hospitals are overcrowded.

Twenty militants were killed in the airstrikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire. Some fled the fighting.

Schools and government offices were closed on Saturday as most people stayed home, according to pro-government radio station Sham FM. Bakeries were open. Rebels have deployed security forces throughout the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting, eyewitnesses said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the city’s airport was closed and all flights suspended. Aleppo’s two key public hospitals were reportedly full of patients on Friday, while many private facilities were closed, UNOCHA said.

Social media posts showed rebels outside Aleppo’s Citadel, a medieval palace in the city’s old center that is one of the largest in the world. They recorded cell phone videos of themselves talking to residents they visited at home, trying to reassure them that no harm would come to them.

The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in the country’s east said about 3,000 people, most of them students, had arrived in their areas after fleeing fighting in Aleppo, which has a significant Kurdish population.

State media reported that a number of “terrorists”, including sleeper cells, had infiltrated parts of the city. Government troops pursued them and arrested several people who posed for photographs near city landmarks, state media reported.

Commentators on state television’s Saturday morning show said army reinforcements and Russian aid would push back against “terrorist groups,” accusing Turkey of supporting rebel advances into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Russian state news agency TASS quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman overseeing the situation in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes attacked and killed 200 militants who launched an offensive in the northwest on Friday. It did not provide any additional details.

Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.