‘It feels like a dream’: Rebels seize control of Syria’s second city in blow to Bashar al-Assad

Thousands of opposition forces took control of Syria’s second city and its airport in a shock assault that marked their largest advance and the biggest challenge facing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in years.

The extraordinary push on Aleppo that started on Friday was met with a wave of airstrikes by Russian and Syrian jets.

The assault on the city was led by commanders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group once aligned with al-Qaeda, who said they intended to force the army of the autocratic leader out.

Later, they said they faced almost no opposition from government forces as they expanded the operation, seizing multiple towns and villages in the neighbouring province of northern Hama.

It represents a devastating threat to Mr Assad’s rule. It comes at a time when the Syrian regime’s two biggest allies – Iran-backed Hezbollah and Russia – have been severely weakened. Firstly by Israel and then the costly war in Ukraine.

Moscow said its fighter aircraft launched a wave of strikes on opposition troops, command posts, depots and artillery positions in retaliation, according to the state-run Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of the Enemy Parties in Syria.

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Thousands of Syrian insurgents were deployed across the city in armoured vehicles on Saturday, to landmarks such as the old citadel, residents said, as the rebels claimed to seize control of Aleppo airport – and senior diplomats in Russia, Iran and Turkey held phone calls to discuss the situation.

Speaking from the city, Abd Alghani Al-Aryan, a journalist from Idlib, that joined the forces as they swept into Aleppo, the first time he had entered the city in 13 years, said “the regime is collapsing dramatically”.

“It feels like a dream, I can’t even describe it,” he told The Independent from inside the city. “The regime’s return is out of the question, especially if they accept the current reality in the region.”

He added: “Especially after losing its most critical element that was protecting it: Russian airpower, followed by the Iranian and Lebanese militias, particularly Hezbollah.”

Friday marked the first time Aleppo has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when Syrian government forces were ousted from the city’s eastern neighbourhoods following a gruelling military campaign in which they were backed by Russia, Iran, and allied groups.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the insurgents had entered Aleppo’s city centre on Friday and seized control of approximately 70 locations in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, as residents fled neighbourhoods on the city’s western edge due to missiles and exchanges of fire.

The Syrian military sought to insist on Saturday that the insurgents had not been able to establish fixed positions in Aleppo due to the army’s continued bombardment of their positions. Yet the army later said it had conducted a “temporary troop withdrawal” in Aleppo to prepare for a counteroffensive.

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In addition to Russian airstrikes, Syrian military sources told Reuters on Saturday that Damascus expected new Russian military hardware to start arriving at Moscow’s Khmeimim airbase, near Syria’s coastal city of Latakia, in the next 72 hours. The main fear for Syrians inside and out of the country was concerning the retaliation from Russia, said Ibrahim Olabi, a native of Aleppo who has family there and is on the board of the Syrian British Consortium. He said many are worried whether Russia and Iran will “[up] their game”.

“People are cautiously hopeful. What this has shown is the regime is unable to have any international legitimacy or domestic diplomacy. This demonstrated that it’s all a facade. The fear is the reaction – will the regime retaliate?”

The death toll from the latest conflict is not yet known.

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An insurgent commander posted a recorded message on social media calling on the city’s residents to cooperate with the advancing forces. Fighters also advanced on the town of Saraqab in the northwestern Idlib province, a strategic area that would secure supply lines to Aleppo.

As the fighting continued on Saturday, the BBC reported that the insurgents had imposed a curfew in Aleppo until Sunday. And sources among the insurgents said they had also captured the city of Maraat al Numan, bringing all of Idlib province under their control, in what would be another significant blow to Mr Assad.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned on Saturday what it called “aggression by terrorist elements” against its consulate in Aleppo but said its diplomats were safe, Iranian state media reported.

Tehran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will travel to Damascus on Sunday, before visiting Turkey on Monday, the ministry said.

This week’s advances come after weeks of low-level, simmering violence. It is the most intense fighting in northwestern Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the conflict between Syrian government forces and opposition forces that began when the 2011 protests against Mr Assad’s rule turned into all-out war. Russia, Iran, and allied groups helped Syrian government forces to reclaim control of all of Aleppo that year, after a gruelling military campaign and a siege that lasted for weeks.

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Warning that the United Nations was deeply alarmed by the situation, David Carden, the UN’s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said on Friday that civilians and children as young as eight had been killed in relentless attacks.

“Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not targets, and must be protected under international humanitarian law,” said Mr Carden.

Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed the area near the border with Turkey on Thursday to try to push back the offensive.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.

“We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible,” said Mr Peskov.

Asked about unconfirmed Russian Telegram reports that Mr Assad had flown in to Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Mr Peskov said he had “nothing to say” on the matter.

Additional reporting by Ragaai Bourhan

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report