Rebels launch large-scale attack on Assad’s forces in northwestern Syria
Jihadist group HTS’s offensive, started same day as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, regarded as largest since 2020; Syrian army says it bombed opposition targets with Russia
Syrian rebel groups launched a large-scale attack on areas controlled by government forces, setting off fierce clashes for a second day and seizing territory in western Aleppo, government and opposition factions said Thursday.
The offensive was launched the same day the ceasefire began between Syrian ally Hezbollah and Israel. The attack was the biggest since March 2020 when Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Turkey, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire that ended years of fighting that uprooted millions of Syrians opposed to Assad’s rule.
Syria’s armed forces said Thursday the offensive was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which controls much of northwest Syria, and is a violation of a de-escalation agreement. It said the attacks are ongoing and have targeted a number of villages and military bases.
HTS, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, has long been targeted by Syrian government and Russian forces. Formerly known as the Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, HTS later changed its name several times and distanced itself from al-Qaeda.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes between the army and the rebels killed more than 130 combatants in the worst fighting in the country’s northwest in years, as the government also reported fierce battles.
The toll “in battles ongoing for the past 24 hours has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS,” 18 from allied factions “and 49 members of regime forces,” said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
The toll from the monitor, which has been accused of inflating regime losses in the past, could not be verified.
In its first statement since the surprise campaign, the Syrian army said it had inflicted heavy losses on “terrorists” who had launched a “large attack on a wide front.”
The army said it was cooperating with Russia and unnamed “friendly forces” to regain ground and restore the situation to what it was.
Opposition factions launched the offensive early Wednesday and claimed in a series of statements on social media that they had wrested control of over 15 villages from government forces, capturing a military base and hardware, and taking a number of soldiers hostage.
The opposition fighters said their offensive will allow the return of thousands of displaced people who were forced to flee government bombardment in recent weeks.
The offensive follows weeks of simmering violence in the area, where activists said government and allied Russian forces have stepped up their bombardment of parts of the last remaining stronghold of the opposition.
It also comes as Iran-linked groups, such as Hezbollah, who had backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own war against Israel.
Russia, along with Iran, backed Syrian government forces soon after the anti-government protests in 2011 turned into a war. Turkey has backed an array of opposition forces and established military presence in parts of northwestern Syria. Meanwhile, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State largely in the east of the country.
Turkish security sources said on Thursday that the rebels initially launched a limited operation after attacks by Syrian government forces, and expanded the operation after government forces abandoned their positions.
The Turkish sources said that the rebels’ movements remained within the boundaries of a de-escalation zone in Idlib, which was agreed on in 2019 by Russia, Iran and Turkey with the aim of reducing hostilities between the rebels and government forces.
Unnamed defense ministry officials quoted in the state-run Anadolu Agency said Thursday the Turkish military had taken “all kinds of measures” to protect its troops in Syria.
Syria’s civil war has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.
The northwestern region is subject to a ceasefire — repeatedly violated but still largely holding — brokered by Turkey and Damascus ally Russia after a Syrian government offensive in March 2020.
