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Rebels Seize Control Over Most of Syria’s Largest City
The rapid advance on Aleppo came just four days into a surprise opposition offensive that is the most intense escalation in years in the civil war.
Muhammad Haj Kadour and Raja Abdulrahim
Muhammad Haj Kadour reported from Aleppo, Syria, and Raja Abdulrahim from Ramallah, in the West Bank.
Rebels had seized most of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, as of Saturday, according to a war monitoring group and to fighters who were combing the streets in search of any remaining pockets of government forces.
The antigovernment rebels said they had faced little resistance on the ground in Aleppo. But Syrian government warplanes responded with airstrikes on the city for the first time since 2016, according to the war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Aleppo came to a near standstill on Saturday, with many residents staying indoors for fear of what the sudden flip in control might mean, witnesses said. Others did venture out into the streets, welcoming the fighters and hugging them. Some rebels tried to reassure city residents and sent out at least one van to distribute bread.
The rapid advance on Aleppo came just days into a surprise rebel offensive launched on Wednesday against the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The developments are both the most serious challenge to Mr. al-Assad’s rule and the most intense escalation in years in a civil war that had been mostly dormant.
The timing of the assault suggested that the rebels could be exploiting weaknesses across an alliance linking Iran to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as the Assad regime in Syria and others.
In Aleppo on Saturday, well-armed rebel fighters dressed in camouflage patrolled streets still lined with the ubiquitous posters of Mr. al-Assad. The opposition forces said that although they were in control of nearly the entire city, they had not yet solidified their hold on it.
The rebels also announced the capture of towns and cities across three provinces, Aleppo, Idlib and Hama.
In the city of Aleppo, rebels announced a 24-hour curfew starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, saying it was for residents’ safety.
Within hours from Friday into Saturday, Syrian government soldiers, security forces and police officers fled the city, according to the war monitoring group. They were replaced by the Islamist and Turkish-backed rebels sweeping through on foot, motorbikes or on trucks mounted with machine guns.
Government military vehicles were parked along the western entrance of the city, apparently abandoned. Rebels took down the government flag, burning it in the streets, and raised the opposition flag, with its band of green, on a pole overlooking much of the city.
The offensive is the latest upheaval in the long-running Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. It displaced about half of the population and sent millions seeking safety in neighboring countries, like Turkey and Lebanon, and beyond, including in Europe.
The conflict was largely stagnant for years until Wednesday, when fighters from an array of armed opposition factions launched the surprise offensive.
Their advance came eight years after a bloody battle for control over Aleppo in 2016 that lasted for months. The rebels were ultimately routed in a big blow to their efforts to oust Mr. al-Assad.
Throughout the war, Mr. al-Assad has counted on military and political support from two of his closest allies, Iran and Russia. Russia once again came to Mr. al-Assad’s aid in the latest fighting.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Moscow had carried out airstrikes against the rebel offensive in support of the Syrian military, although it did not say where. The war monitoring group said that Russian strikes had hit opposition-held areas of Aleppo and Idlib Provinces.
It was not immediately clear whether Russia had struck the city of Aleppo, the capital of the Aleppo Province, to back up the Syrian government airstrikes.
The Aleppo governor, police and security commanders, and other regime forces have fled central Aleppo, the monitoring group said on Saturday.
The Syrian state news media challenged the reports of a rebel takeover of most of Aleppo, saying the military had captured groups of “terrorists” who had been filming inside several neighborhoods to try to prove that they had taken control of them. Since the early days of the Syrian conflict, the government has characterized virtually all opposition figures as terrorists.
Residents of Aleppo described to The New York Times how control of their city seemingly switched from night to day.
Some former Aleppo residents returned with the advancing rebel offensive. They and the antigovernment fighters have been sharing photos and videos of themselves around Aleppo landmarks. One popular selfie spot on Saturday was in front of the ancient citadel that served as a military outpost for government forces at the height of battles for the city years ago.
One older man, apparently confused about the identity of the city’s new rulers, called out to a group of fighters, “May God protect you. May God protect al-Assad.”
The rebel alliance is led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once linked with Al Qaeda, though it publicly broke with the terrorist group years ago. Turkish-backed rebel groups have also joined in.
Some restaurants and cafes rimming the edges of the citadel’s old walls opened as usual on Saturday, but suddenly they had new patrons: rebel fighters with their weapons and returning residents who had fled when the regime fully took over the city in 2016.
On Friday, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the Aleppo airport was closed and all flights suspended.
On Saturday, Kurdish-led forces, who control large parts of Syria’s northeast, took over the airport, according to the observatory. But hours later, the rebels claimed to have taken control of the airport, confusion on the ground that may hint at chaos to come as territory quickly changed hands.
The Kurdish-led fighters — a separate force that is not aligned with the rebels — also took over abandoned checkpoints in some Aleppo neighborhoods, according to the war monitoring group and rebels.
The Kurdish-led forces are backed by the United States, which formed an alliance with them years ago to battle the Islamic State terrorist group when it took advantage of a power vacuum created by the civil war and seized large swaths of Syria. The United States still has hundreds of forces stationed on Syrian territory, mostly in Kurdish-controlled areas.
Former residents of Aleppo came back to survey their homes and neighborhoods and, in some cases, to reunite with family members they had not seen in years.
Some city residents said they were concerned about what a takeover by a hodgepodge of rebel groups could bring. But that is not their only fear.
The airstrikes on Saturday could portend more aerial attacks and a return to the years when rebels controlled parts of the city that were bombarded regularly by regime and Russian warplanes.
Before the war, Aleppo was Syria’s commercial center with a population of about three million. But large parts of the strategic city were destroyed during the years when rebels and the regime fought for control of it.
In December 2016, the Assad government, aided by Russia, recaptured all of the city after a prolonged siege of opposition-held neighborhoods. The takeover was exalted at the time by Mr. al-Assad as a turning point in the war. In the years that followed, his regime, supported by the Russian military and Iran-backed militias, clawed back large parts of the country.
That control may now be under threat, especially with Mr. Assad’s allies, including Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, distracted and weakened by other regional conflicts — chief among them Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
For some returning residents of Aleppo, it was hard to fathom the rapid turn of events that allowed them to once again go home.
When Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a professor of English and antigovernment campaigner from Aleppo, heard the news that rebels had breached the city on Friday, he said that he did not believe it. He said he had fled the city in 2016 and has been living with his family in the countryside since then.
“Even dreaming, it was impossible for Aleppo to be liberated once again,” he said. “But I had faith.”
Once he heard the news of the partial rebel takeover early on Saturday, he said, he had rushed back.
“Even as I was entering Aleppo, I was saying to myself, ‘How did this happen? This was impossible,’” he said.
He ventured back to familiar neighborhoods and landmarks, including the university he graduated from, he said, adding that he had taken a selfie in front of the citadel.
As an opposition supporter, he said he had tried to reassure city residents.
“The people are afraid,” he said. “The regime planted in them fear of the rebels.”
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Raja Abdulrahim reports on the Middle East and is based in Jerusalem. More about Raja Abdulrahim
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