Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo, Russia conducts strikes in support of Assad

The Syrian army said on Saturday dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air force had carried out strikes on Syrian rebels in support of the country's army, Russian news agencies reported. The strikes followed what was the boldest rebel assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, once known as the Nusra Front, is designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Russia, Türkiye and other states. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said earlier that the United States was monitoring the situation.

The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many millions, has ground on since 2011 with no formal end, although most major fighting halted years ago after Iran and Russia helped Assad's government win control of most land and all major cities.

Aleppo had been firmly held by the government since a 2016 victory there, one of the war's major turning points, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and laid waste to rebel-held eastern areas of what had been the country's largest city.

"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.

Acknowledging the rebel advance, the Syrian army command said insurgents had entered much of Aleppo.

After the army said it was preparing a counterattack, air strikes targeted rebel gatherings and convoys in the city, Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported. One strike caused casualties in Aleppo's Basel Square, a resident told Reuters.

The state-run Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Enemy Parties in Syria said missile and bomb strikes against the rebels had targeted "militant concentrations, command posts, depots, and artillery positions" in Aleppo and Idlib provinces. It claimed about 300 rebel fighters had been killed in the attacks.

Overnight, images from Aleppo showed a group of rebel fighters gathered in the city's Saadallah al-Jabiri Square, with a billboard of Assad looming behind them.

Images filmed on Saturday showed people posing for photos on a toppled statue of Bassil al-Assad, late brother of the president. Fighters zipped around the city in trucks and milled around in the streets. A man waved a Syrian opposition flag as he stood near Aleppo's historic citadel.

The Syrian military command said militants had attacked in large numbers and from multiple directions, prompting "our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers."

The rebels also took control of Aleppo airport, according to a statement by their operations room and a security source.

Two rebel sources also said the insurgents had captured the city of Maraat al Numan in Idlib province, bringing all of that area under their control.

Russian, Turkish ministers talk

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, discussing the situation in Syria, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"Both sides expressed serious concerns at the dangerous development of the situation," the ministry said. They agreed it was necessary to coordinate joint actions to stabilize the situation in the country.

Turkish security officials had said on Thursday that Ankara had prevented operations which opposition groups wanted to organize, in order to avoid further tensions in the region.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lavrov in a phone call that the rebel attacks were part of an Israeli-U.S. plan to destabilize the region, Iranian state media said.