Egypt Daily News – Syrian terrorist organizations have taken control of “the majority of the city of Aleppo,” coinciding with Russian warplanes launching raids on the city’s neighborhoods for the first time since 2016, while the Syrian army acknowledged they lost control over “large parts” of City.
Sources said that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its allied factions “took control of the majority of the city, government centers and prisons.” They added that “After midnight on Friday and Saturday, Russian warplanes launched raids on the neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo for the first time since 2016.”
Two Syrian military sources told Reuters: “A bombardment by Russian and Syrian aircraft targeted Syrian faction fighters in a neighborhood in the city of Aleppo.”
Sources had previously indicated that warplanes, who were not identified, launched raids after midnight last night on the neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo, and the raids targeted the Al-Furqan neighborhood near New Aleppo on the western side of the city.
“Temporary” redeployment
For its part, the Syrian army announced, in a statement, that dozens of its soldiers were killed in an attack by terrorist organizations and that they were able to enter large parts of the neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo. The army was forced to redeploy.
The statement constitutes the first public acknowledgment by the army that the terrorist organizations led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham entered the city of Aleppo, which is controlled by the government, in a surprise attack that began last week.
It added “The large numbers of terrorists and the multiple fronts of engagement prompted our armed forces to implement a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines. In order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack.”
The attack by armed factions represents the biggest challenge in years to President Bashar al-Assad, as it renews confrontations in the Syrian civil war that has largely stopped since 2020.
The Syrian army statement said that the factions were unable to “establish concentration points due to the continued directing of concentrated and powerful strikes by our armed forces.”
Two military sources said earlier that Russian and Syrian warplanes targeted opponents in the city of Aleppo today. Russia deployed air forces in Syria in 2015; To help Assad in the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011.
The death toll from the clashes that broke out last Wednesday between the Syrian army and armed factions in Aleppo and Idlib had risen to 301.
Yesterday (Friday), media outlets affiliated with the terrorist organizations reported that the terrorists had taken control of large areas in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates, while the Syrian army said, in a statement, that its forces were confronting a major attack by the factions.
Russia promised additional aid
Two Syrian military sources told Reuters that Syria had received a promise of additional Russian military aid. To help the army prevent the factions from seizing control of Aleppo Governorate in the northwest of the country.
The two sources added that Damascus expects new Russian military equipment to begin arriving at the Russian Hmeimim air base near the coastal city of Latakia within 72 hours.
