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Syrian rebel fighters said they were pressing southward after taking over most of the country’s second city Aleppo, including its international airport, in a lightning assault that poses the biggest challenge in years to Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The thousands of rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, entered Aleppo city, which has a population of 2mn, on Friday. Images circulating on opposition-linked social media this weekend showed them raising their flag over the city’s citadel and posing in its airport.
The rebels, who launched their assault on Wednesday, said their fighters had advanced in multiple directions from their stronghold in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. HTS attempted to press on to the major regime-held city of Hama, south of Aleppo, and claimed they had seized at least four towns in Hama province. The Syrian army denied this.
In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, Assad said his country would continue to “defend its stability and its territorial integrity in the face of terrorists and their supporters”, in remarks carried by state news agency Sana.
The comments came during a call with Emirati leader Mohammed bin Zayed, an Assad ally, who “emphasised the UAE’s solidarity with Syria and its support in combating terrorism”.
It was not clear whether Assad had returned to Syria following a visit to Moscow earlier this week.
The Syrian army denied that the rebels had secured Aleppo but later added that it was redeploying its forces as it prepared to launch a counterattack supported by Russian air strikes and strengthen its defensive lines after days of fierce fighting. Dozens of Syrian army soldiers were killed by rebel forces, the defence ministry said.
Assad faces increasing domestic and external pressures in a country shattered by a civil war that erupted after a 2011 popular uprising. He was able to quash the original rebellion with military backing from Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed groups, including Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant movement.
Despite regaining control over two-thirds of the country, years of conflict and a deep economic crisis have left it in ruins.
The fighting had largely subsided in recent years, with the surviving rebel groups pushed into north and northwestern areas close to the Turkish border.
But over the past year, Israel has ramped up air strikes on Iran-affiliated targets in Syria as it launched an offensive against Hizbollah in Lebanon, severely weakening groups that had played a vital role in keeping Assad in power.
HTS’s ability to move deeper into Syria is a major embarrassment for Assad, underscoring the regime’s weakness. The offensive appeared to have been planned for years, and comes at a time when Assad’s allies are preoccupied with their own conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East.
HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani said his fighters would not rest “until we reach the heart of Damascus”, in old video footage which was republished by social media networks linked to the group this weekend.
Russian warplanes bombed rebel positions in a bid to stem their advance. Russia’s defence ministry was quoted by state news agencies as saying the country’s forces had killed “at least 300 militants by missile strikes . . . on command posts, warehouses and artillery positions”.
Opposition-linked media noted several Russian air strikes in Idlib on Saturday evening and Sunday.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has discussed the situation in Syria with Hakan Fidan, his Turkish counterpart. Lavrov also spoke to Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who is expected to visit Damascus on Sunday and Ankara on Monday, as the main powers involved in Syria began a flurry of diplomacy.