Syria's Assad vows to fight back as rebel group makes deeper inroads in Aleppo

In a major turn of events, the Syrian government forces withdrew from the city of Aleppo, a day after rebels opposing the rule of President Bashar al-Assad took over the city. On Saturday, the Syrian army acknowledged that rebels have entered “large parts” of the country’s second-largest city. While the Syrian forces maintained that they had to withdraw from the city, they pledged to stage a counterattack soon.

It is pertinent to note that the recent offensive marks the most significant fighting in Syria since the devastating civil war, which established Assad’s regime. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), more than 300 people, including at least 20 civilians, have been killed since the insurgency began on Wednesday.

The conflict between the Assad regime and the rebel groups has largely remained dormant since a ceasefire agreed in 2020, but opposition forces have maintained control of the north-western city of Idlib and much of the surrounding province. It is pertinent to note that the city of Idlib sits just 55 km from Aleppo, which itself was a rebel stronghold until it fell to government forces in 2016.

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Assad vows to defend Syria

While speaking on the insurgency on Sunday, the Syrian president vowed to “defend [Syria’s] stability and territorial integrity in the face of all terrorists and their backers”. “[The country] is capable, with the help of its allies and friends, of defeating and eliminating them, no matter how intense their terrorist attacks are,” his office quoted him as saying after the rebel groups took over Aleppo.

The latest attacks have been led by an Islamist militant group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions backed by Turkey. It is pertinent to note that HTS was regarded as one of the most effective and deadly of the groups fighting the Assad government and was already the dominant force in Idlib.

On Friday, the rebel group took control of Aleppo’s airport and dozens of nearby towns. Following this, they announced a curfew which came into force at 17:00 local time on Friday and will remain in place until Sunday. Meanwhile, the Syrian army maintained that rebels had launched “a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts” and that battles had taken place “over a strip exceeding 100km (60 miles)”.

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The forces defending the Assad regime maintained that dozens of soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Amid the chaos, the Russian air force, which played a significant role in keeping Assad in power during the peak of the civil war, carried out air strikes in Aleppo on Saturday.

The strikes marked the first time Russian forces have conducted operations in the city since 2016. Pictures that are circulating online showed roads leading out of Aleppo jammed with cars as people try to flee their homes. As the tussle between both sides continues to escalate, the fate of Syria remains unclear.

With inputs from agencies.