Syria is drifting into chaos again. The civil war, which has been partially “frozen” in the country for 4 years, has suddenly revived in recent days. Rebel forces opposing the government led by Bashar Assad launched an attack against the regular army. And on Saturday, November 30, they took control of Aleppo, the country’s second largest city and which has been at the center of very violent conflict in the past. Armed groups so far hostile to Syrian President Assad have met little resistance from government forces, upending what has been essentially stagnant since 2020.
After the conquest of Aleppo, the military operation expanded at a pace unprecedented in the 13-year-long civil war in Syria. The surprise attack prompted the Russian air force to carry out its first bombing raid on Aleppo since 2016, while government loyalists retreated from the city.
The advance of pro-Turkish jihadist rebels continues at this time: after Aleppo, they took control of the entire Idlib province. There are already hundreds of deaths in clashes between militias and soldiers due to Russia’s new bombings. Thousands of civilians are already fleeing the city and the UN has ordered the evacuation of a convoy including Italian citizens.
I follow the developments in Syria, especially Aleppo, carefully. Embassy 🇮🇹 @ItalyinSyria We help our fellow citizens.
In case of any emergency, contact the Embassy on +963992550555 or the Crisis Unit on +390636225.— Antonio Tajani (@Antonio_Tajani) 30 November 2024
For now, a few words come from Syrian President Assad: “We will defeat the terrorists.” While all this is happening, Turkish media goes so far as to talk about explosions and a coup against Bashar al-Assad in Damascus (these are unconfirmed rumors).
Syria, jihadist rebels who conquered Aleppo
Leading the offensive is the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – “Syria Liberation Commission” – which has been deeply involved in the conflict that has shaken Syria for years. It is a jihadist militia group led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who founded Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing in 2012 but later left international Qaeda to form a more pragmatic form of political jihadism based in the northern region. Idlib of Western Syria. According to the Lebanese government’s X account, Al Jolani was killed in a Russian airstrike in Idlib in the last few hours.
HTS has been operating in a part of the Idlib region in recent years. And Türkiye has already occupied large areas of northwestern and northeastern Syria, expanding its direct political and military influence there over the years. Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, 42, originally from the Damascus region, has never acknowledged his direct connection to Ankara; but many have described him as an agent of the power system embodied by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
HTS and its leader have sought in recent years to reposition themselves in line with their origins: in addition to military actions, they have focused on promoting civilian government in controlled areas, the Associated Press reported. After cutting ties with al-Qaeda, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani suppressed some extremist groups in the region and defined himself as the protector of other religions: In 2023, for the first time in years, the city of Idlib was given permission to hold a celebration. Christian mass. According to the CSIS-Transnational Threat Project’s 2018 report on Salafi-jihadist groups, HTS has a fighting force of 12,000 to 15,000 militants.
At dawn on November 26, the first pioneers of the pro-Turkish jihadist offensive against the government, Iranian and Russian positions, mobilized from areas under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. HTS’s military structure includes defectors from local al-Qaeda and the Islamic State Organization, as well as former anti-government Syrian rebels who supported the first armed rebellions against the power of controversial president Bashar al-Assad. But there are also many mercenaries selected from Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Uighurs in Xinjiang in China. These are not Syrians, not Arabs, but Sunni Muslim fighters with deep anti-Russian and anti-Chinese sentiments.
But Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is not the only rebel force. In addition, attacks in recent days have also been carried out by another coalition called the Syrian National Army (Jaish al-Watani), not to be confused with Damascus’ regular government army. This group, which is for now secondary compared to al-Jolani’s men, is a direct product of the military security units and the Turkish army, and over the years has incorporated a number of factions expelled from the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising starting in 2012. In 2014, the government is in the process of reconquest from Homs, Aleppo, Hama, Daraa and Damascus region by Russia and Iran.
What’s happening in Syria
The attack, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, first hit the western countryside of Aleppo and then the entire Syrian city. Kuwait was completely conquered tonight and early Saturday morning as government forces retreated, leaving defenseless the military airports of Abu Dhuhur, Nayrab and even Aleppo international airport, which had never fallen to the rebels. more than 13 years since the beginning of the war. Kurdish forces, which are an expression of the local wing of the PKK and have long maintained their stronghold in Aleppo, initially tried to take advantage of the government’s withdrawal and first took control of the city’s international airport.
After tough talks with pro-Turkish forces on Saturday afternoon, the airport fell to jihadists led by Ankara. They continued south, entering the entire Idlib region without firing a single shot, and entered the central Hama region for the first time in almost a decade. Here Russian forces withdrew from the military airfield and key base at Sqeilibye on the Orontes River. The jihadists’ offensive then reached the outskirts of Homs, about a hundred kilometers north of the capital. The news fueled the never-dying political ambitions of rebel groups in southern Syria, who attacked government positions in Daraa and Suwayda on the Jordanian border.
Assad: “Defeat the terrorists”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Saturday night to “defeat the terrorists” no matter the size of their attacks. “Syria continues to defend its stability and regional integrity against all terrorists and their supporters, and with the help of its allies and friends, it is able to defeat and eliminate them regardless of the intensity of their attacks,” he said. The Syrian presidency said in a statement that it had met with its Emirati counterpart.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
