⚔️Aleppo crisis: what’s going on in Syria? (Part 1 👉 Part 2)

The conflict in Syria has returned to the frontpages after years of media obliviousness due to a lightning jihadist offensive on the strategic city of Aleppo.

What happened there?

⚪️Militants from al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham* and the so-called ‘Syrian National Army’ began an offensive toward Aleppo on November 27.

⚪️The jihadists were able to stage their forces for the operation in Idlib – a terrorist-controlled province of northwestern Syria outside government control since 2015.

⚪️Militants advanced through villages west of Aleppo, capturing key settlements and reportedly cutting the M5 motorway linking Aleppo to Damascus.

⚪️The Syrian army launched air and artillery strikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, including the city of Idlib and towns like Ariha and Sarmada. Russian jets targeted terrorist positions in Atarib, Darat Izza, and Mare, while Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces joined the defense of Aleppo.

⚪️Stikes reportedly killed two senior jihadist commanders.

⚪️Iran announced that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen Kioumars Pourhashemi, an advisor to Syrian forces, had been killed on the first day of the terrorists’ assault.

⚪️Terrorist forces penetrated defenses in Aleppo proper on Friday, carrying out suicide bombing attacks, clashing with defenders, and reportedly occupying the city’s world-famous Citadel Saturday morning.

⚪️Syrian forces began a counterattack on Friday. The army reported the destruction of dozens of armored vehicles and the liquidation of hundreds of fighters in Idlib and Aleppo, including what it said were foreign mercs.

⚪️In a statement Saturday, the Syrian army acknowledged the advance of terrorists into “many areas of the city of Aleppo,” but said fighting was continuing to prevent them from gaining a foothold.

⚪️The army said “dozens” of Syrian servicemen had been killed or injured in the course of defensive operations against “thousands of foreign terrorists” armed with “heavy weapons and a large number of drones.”

👉 Part 2

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⚔️Aleppo crisis: what’s going on in Syria? (Part 2 👉 Part 1)

Why here, why now?

⚪️The terrorist offensive on Aleppo began the same day the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon entered into force, although the jihadists claim it was tied to recent Syrian strikes targeting terrorist commanders in Idlib – where a shaky Russia and Turkiye-mediated ceasefire had been in place since 2020.

⚪️Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi assured his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh Friday that Iran would continue to support Damascus’ fight against the jihadists.

⚪️Araghchi characterized the resurgence of terrorism in northern Syria as a US-Israeli plot aimed at destabilizing West Asia after the IDF “failures” confronting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Veteran international affairs observer Seyed Mohammad Marandi echoed this sentiment in an interview with Sputnik.

⚪️The terrorist advance on Aleppo puts additional pressure on the Syrian government as it combats a long-term foreign-backed jihadist proxy war aimed at overthrowing President Assad, illegal US bases on Syrian soil in the country’s east and south, and a decades-old conflict with Israel.

👉 Part 1

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