Syrian troops in Aleppo battle shock offensive by rebels

Syrian government troops battle insurgents in Aleppo, targeting rebel supply lines, as violence escalates in the city.

Syrian government troops battled insurgents inside the country’s largest city, Aleppo, for the first time since 2016, while warplanes targeted rebel supply lines on the city’s edge, state media reported Saturday (November 30, 2024).

Insurgents broke through government defense lines in Aleppo on Friday (November 29, 2024) and entered the city’s western neighborhood with little resistance. The insurgents launched their shock offensive in Aleppo and Idlib countryside on Wednesday (November 27, 2024) and wrestled control of dozens of villages and towns along the way, including a strategic town south of Aleppo.

The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported airstrikes on the edge of Aleppo city, targeting rebel supply lines. It posted a video of a missile landing on a gathering of fighters and vehicles, in a street lined with trees and buildings.

Twenty fighters were killed in the airstrikes that targeted rebel reinforcements, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s unresolved civil war. Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire, and some were fleeing the fighting.

Schools and government offices were closed Saturday (November 30, 2024) as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open.

In social media post, the insurgents were pictured outside of Aleppo citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. In cellphone videos, the insurgents recorded themselves having conversations with residents they visited at home, seeking to reassure them they will cause no harm.

State media reported that a number of “terrorists,” including sleeper cells, have infiltrated parts of the city. Government troops chased them and arrested a number who posed for pictures near city landmarks, state media said.