Syrian rebels seen toppling statue of Assad’s brother in surprise offensive against regime in Aleppo
Syrian rebels have taken control of around half of Aleppo city after a sudden offensive caught government forces off guard, posing the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.
Dozens of regime soldiers have reportedly been killed, forcing the army to redeploy, while neighbouring Idlib province is now said to be under full rebel control.
Insurgents toppled a statue of Assad’s brother Bassel al-Assad, who died in a car crash in 1994, in what is a major setback for the government.
As the figure topples over and smashes to the ground, rebels can be heard cheering and chanting as they fire gunshots into the air.
In response, Russia and the Syrian government have launched airstrikes targeting rebel-held areas in an attempt to regain ground.
The surprise attack on Saturday, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has shaken the frontlines of the Syrian civil war, which had largely been stagnant since 2020.
The offensive has reignited fighting near the Turkish border, prompting the Syrian army to announce plans for a counteroffensive to restore state control.
The Syrian army command acknowledged the rebel advance, confirming that insurgents had taken large parts of Aleppo—territory that had been under full government control since Assad’s forces, backed by Russia and Iran, expelled rebels eight years ago.
Images from Aleppo showed rebel fighters gathered in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square overnight, with a billboard of Assad looming behind them.
Syrian rebels toppled a statue of Bassel al-Assad, brother of Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo after reclaiming Syria's second city. pic.twitter.com/dOIjczkWn9
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) November 30, 2024
"I am the son of Aleppo, and was displaced from it eight years ago, in 2016. Thank God we just returned. It is an indescribable feeling," said Ali Jumbaa, a rebel fighter, television footage showed.
The Syrian military command said militants had attacked in large numbers and from multiple directions, prompting "our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defence lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack".
The army said bombardment had stopped the insurgents from establishing fixed positions. It promised to "expel them and restore the control of the state ... over the entire city and its countryside".
Two rebel sources said the insurgents had also captured the city of Maraat al Numan in Idlib province, bringing all of that province under their control, in what would be another significant blow to Mr Assad.
The fighting revives the long-simmering Syrian conflict as the wider region is roiled by wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday.
The attack was launched from insurgent-held areas of northwestern Syria that remain outside Mr Assad's grasp.
Two Syrian military sources said that Russian and Syrian warplanes targeted insurgents in an Aleppo suburb on Saturday.
Speaking on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. "We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a rescue service operating in opposition-held parts of Syria, said in a post on X that Syrian government and Russian aircraft carried out airstrikes on residential neighbourhoods, a gas station and a school in rebel-held Idlib, killing four civilians and wounding six others.
The two Syrian military sources said Russia has promised Damascus extra military aid that would start arriving in the next 72 hours. Authorities closed Aleppo airport and roads to the city, the two military sources and a third army source said.
The Syrian army has been told to follow "safe withdrawal" orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels had entered, the three military sources said.
The surprise takeover is a huge embarrassment for Assad, who managed to regain total control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which his forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.