Syrian Rebels Capture Majority Of Aleppo As Russia’s Forces Abandon Bases (Photos)

Syria’s rebels seized most of Aleppo on Saturday as their sweeping advance ousted Russian forces from at least three military bases around the city.

Opposition fighters raced through Aleppo, Hama and Idlib provinces in a lightning advance that has stunned Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

By Saturday night, the rebels had entered the city of Hama in one of the most significant crises for the Syrian government in the country’s 13 years of civil war.

Fighters broke through government lines in the west and pushed deep into Syria’s second-largest city of Aleppo on Friday night, appearing in photographs outside the city centre’s medieval citadel.

“I am a son of Aleppo and was displaced from it eight years ago, in 2016. Thank God we just returned. It is an indescribable feeling,” said Ali Jumaa, a rebel fighter, in television footage filmed inside the city.

The Syrian army on Saturday admitted that rebels had captured large parts of the city, and said regime forces had staged a temporary withdrawal to prepare a counter-offensive.

Dozens of towns and villages changed hands in the advance, and several Syrian military bases fell or were abandoned, including sites which had been used by Russian forces fighting to keep Assad’s regime in power since 2015.

As the rebel offensive accelerated, Russian forces were reported to have withdrawn from their base in the Al-Suqaylabiyah area in the northern Hama countryside, and also to have left Hama air base

Rebels also took Kuweires airbase east of Aleppo, which houses a military flying institute and is reported to have housed Russian troops and electronic warfare units.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, on Saturday held urgent talks by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, discussing the situation in Syria.

“Both sides expressed serious concerns at the dangerous development of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic in connection with the military escalation in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces,” the ministry said.

Analysts predicted Assad’s forces could be forced from the entirety of Aleppo and Hama provinces by the end of the weekend.

Charles Lister, of the Middle East Institute think tank, said the rapid developments were “quite literally an earthquake within the 14 years of Syria’s crisis”.

“Assad is looking more vulnerable than ever. An absolute collapse,” he added.

Russian planes were also accused of killing at least 20 people in Aleppo in an air strike on a roundabout where rebels had toppled a statue of Assad’s late brother, Bassel al-Assad.

The offensive led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group and its allies has reignited front lines which had been largely static for more than four years.

As the group swept into Aleppo from the west, the rival Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), moved into the city from the east and took control of Aleppo’s international airport, after Syrian regime forces left.

However, by Saturday afternoon, the SDF, which has received significant US backing to fight Islamic State militants, was said to have handed the airport over to the other rebels.

One fighter posted a video of himself on a “tour” of the facility, offering the “good news” to our “brothers in the liberated areas”.

On Saturday, rebels also released a video saying they had captured the Abu al-Duhur air base, about 28 miles south of Aleppo. The air base changed hands and was destroyed earlier in the civil war. It has been held by the Syrian government since 2018.

The offensive has gathered momentum after apparently facing little organised resistance from the Syrian government forces, who had melted away, according to monitors.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has lent heavy support to Assad since 2015 and Russian air power was pivotal to the Syrian government’s success in regaining control of its major cities during the civil war.

Russia’s port on the Syrian coast, at Tartus, is critical to its operations in the Mediterranean and in Libya, where Moscow is backing the military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar.

Jalel Harchaoui, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said: “While I’m not predicting Russia will abandon Tartus or Latakia, the proximity of Suqaylabiyah, less than 100km from Tartus, must be noted here.

“Any potential loss by Moscow of these ports would reshape the fate of the Haftar family.
“Russia’s extremely pleasant and comfortable circumstances in Libya have been logistically anchored in its secure bases in Syria.

“If this Syrian foundation were to falter, Moscow would become compelled to view its Libyan engagement as less natural and more costly.”

Rebel groups were ousted from Aleppo in 2016 with the help of Russian air power and Iranian forces, after a brutal four-year siege.

Inside Aleppo, schools and government offices were closed as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open.

Social media posts purported to show the rebels outside the city’s citadel, and cellphone videos showed them talking with residents they visited at home, seeking to reassure them they will cause no harm.

The Syrian military said its withdrawal from Aleppo “is a temporary measure and (the military central command and armed forces) will work to guarantee the security and peace of all our people in Aleppo”.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned on Friday night after hearing the insurgents were inside, told Associated Press he had “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories”.

He said: “As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself this is impossible! How did this happen?”

He said he strolled through the city at night, visiting the citadel, where the insurgents raised their flags, a major square and the university of Aleppo, as well as the last spot he was in before he was forced to leave for the countryside.

A rebel fighter said he had returned to the city for the first time in 13 years, when his older brother was killed at the start of the war.

Mohammad Al Abdo said: “God willing, the rest of Aleppo province will be liberated” from government forces.”