Syrian rebels reached the outskirts of the major city of Aleppo on Friday, according to the fighters and a war monitor, raising fears that the nation’s civil war is reigniting with an intensity not seen in years.
Syrian government forces and their Russian allies launched intense airstrikes on several opposition-held towns and cities on Friday, including 23 strikes on the city of Idlib, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group.
The rebels launched their offensive this week, in the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in years. It comes as his military allies in Iran and Hezbollah have been significantly weakened by their conflicts in Israel, and as Russia is focused on its war in Ukraine.
The civil war — which displaced about half of the country’s population and sent millions of refugees flooding into neighboring countries like Turkey and Lebanon — had been quiet. But on Wednesday, the rebel fighters from an array of armed opposition factions launched a surprise offensive against the government in the northwestern province of Aleppo.
It is the most significant rebel advance in years, according to the Observatory.
The anti-government fighters managed on Friday to breach three neighborhoods at the edge of Aleppo after detonating two car bombs targeting government soldiers, according to the rebels and the Observatory. The monitoring group did not provide further details on the car bombings, and it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.
The rebels posted a map on the Telegram messaging app along with evacuation warnings to civilians in the city of Aleppo, urging people to move to eastern neighborhoods “for your safety.”
Syrian state media claimed that government forces had stopped the rebel advance and inflicted huge losses on the rebel side. The rebels did not immediately respond to the claim, which could not be independently confirmed.
The White Helmets, a first-responder organization based in opposition-held areas of Syria, reported numerous civilians had been killed or injured in the government airstrikes on Friday.
The rebels come from an array of armed opposition factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once linked with the terror group Al Qaeda but publicly broke ties with it years ago. Turkish-backed rebel groups are also taking part.
The opposition fighters launched the offensive on Wednesday, aiming to try to stop airstrikes on opposition-held areas by government forces and their allies.
Rebels said they have been preparing for this offensive for months. In a video statement announcing the offensive, Lt. Col. Hassan Abdulghany, military commander of the opposition’s operations room, said the decision to launch the attack was forced on them.
“To push back their fire from our people, this operation is not a choice,” he said. “It is an obligation to defend our people and their land.” .
Iran has backed the Syrian government throughout the war, sending advisers and commanders of its powerful Revolutionary Guards force to bases and front lines and backing militias, with thousands of fighters, to defend the government. Weapons and money have long flowed from Iran across Syria’s borders to Hezbollah in Lebanon, part of the so-called ‘axis of resistance.’
Three days of fierce clashes have killed more than 250 combatants from both sides, including more than 140 from rebel groups and 87 government soldiers and Iran-backed fighters, according to the Observatory.
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