Jihadists enter Aleppo for first time since 2016. original post @timesofindia Nov 28Syrian opposition forces have entered Aleppo just three days into their surprise offensive, marking the first time they have set foot in the country’s second-largest city since government forces recaptured the city in 2016.
The rebels launched a surprise attack this week, sweeping eastward through several villages outside the city and reigniting a conflict that had been largely static for years.
By Friday evening, opposition forces had reached the city center, according to footage verified by CNN, which showed camo-clad fighters waving the flag of the Syrian opposition in a central square.
The offensive, which began Wednesday, is the first major flare-up in years between the Syrian opposition and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has ruled the war-torn country since 2000.
The official Syrian military said it was confronting a “major attack” and claimed it is “reinforcing all locations along the various battlefronts,” but multiple residents of the city say regime forces have pulled back from several neighborhoods in the western part of Aleppo.
On Friday, the newly formed armed opposition coalition, the Military Operations Command, said it seized control of the Syrian government’s Military Scientific Research Center on the outskirts of Aleppo city after “intense clashes with the regime forces and Iranian militias.” It later shared a video of Syrian regime tanks leaving Aleppo as rebel forces advanced.
The armed opposition forces continued to edge further into the city throughout Friday afternoon. In a video geolocated by CNN, fighters were seen by the statue of Bassel al-Assad, the deceased brother of President Assad, on the eastern edge of the city’s New Aleppo district. One fighter was seen lowering a Syrian flag from its mast.
A fluid situation
The situation in Aleppo remained fluid as the day progressed, as armed opposition forces appeared to continue their rapid advance.
Two videos captured in the central Saadallah al-Jabiri Square show camo-clad fighters waving the flag of the Syrian opposition and yelling “Allahu Akbar”—meaning “God is great” in Arabic—in the nearly deserted plaza.
The armed rebels also appeared at Aleppo’s historic citadel, verified footage shows, nearly a mile (1.59km) to the southeast, verified footage shows.
Pro-Syrian government social media channels have disputed the extent of the opposition’s advance. Two videos posted on pro-government Telegram channels, purportedly show empty squares in northwest Aleppo, as men claim that there are no rebels in that part of the city.
Syrian opposition fighters enter the village of Anjara, west of Aleppo, on Thursday. Omar Albam/AP
In an attack earlier Friday, an artillery shell struck Aleppo University’s student housing, killing four people, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA, which blamed opposition factions for the attack. The spokesperson for the rebel groups Hassan Abdulghani refuted the accusations by the Syrian government media as “baseless lies.”
An Aleppo University employee, speaking anonymously for security reasons, confirmed that an artillery shell hit the second floor of a dormitory with students inside at the time. A video circulating on social media, geolocated by CNN, shows young men running out of a dormitory in Aleppo University campus and carrying an injured individual.
On Thursday, at least 15 civilians, including six children and two women, were killed, and 36 others were injured in airstrikes and shelling on rebel-held areas in Aleppo and Idlib countryside, according to the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group. Iranian state media said that an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Kioumars Pourhashemi was also killed in the city.
In a call with his Syrian counterpart to discuss the escalation, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States and Israel of the “reactivation” of the rebels, and “stressed the continued support” of Iran to the Syrian government and army.
Two videos captured in the central Saadallah al-Jabiri Square show camo-clad fighters waving the flag of the Syrian opposition and yelling “Allahu Akbar”—meaning “God is great” in Arabic—in the nearly deserted plaza.
The armed rebels also appeared at Aleppo’s historic citadel, verified footage shows, nearly a mile (1.59km) to the southeast, verified footage shows.
Pro-Syrian government social media channels have disputed the extent of the opposition’s advance. Two videos posted on pro-government Telegram channels, purportedly show empty squares in northwest Aleppo, as men claim that there are no rebels in that part of the city.
Syrian opposition fighters enter the village of Anjara, west of Aleppo, on Thursday. Omar Albam/AP
In an attack earlier Friday, an artillery shell struck Aleppo University’s student housing, killing four people, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA, which blamed opposition factions for the attack. The spokesperson for the rebel groups Hassan Abdulghani refuted the accusations by the Syrian government media as “baseless lies.”
An Aleppo University employee, speaking anonymously for security reasons, confirmed that an artillery shell hit the second floor of a dormitory with students inside at the time. A video circulating on social media, geolocated by CNN, shows young men running out of a dormitory in Aleppo University campus and carrying an injured individual.
On Thursday, at least 15 civilians, including six children and two women, were killed, and 36 others were injured in airstrikes and shelling on rebel-held areas in Aleppo and Idlib countryside, according to the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group. Iranian state media said that an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Kioumars Pourhashemi was also killed in the city.
In a call with his Syrian counterpart to discuss the escalation, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States and Israel of the “reactivation” of the rebels, and “stressed the continued support” of Iran to the Syrian government and army.
Origimal post CNN
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