After being expelled from Aleppo for eight years by the Syrian army, with the help of Russia and IranIslamist rebels as well as Turkish-backed factions recaptured the city, as well as the town of Khan Shayjun, bordering Hama and at the southern tip of Idlib. “I am a son of Aleppo and I was displaced eight years ago, in 2016. Thank goodness we just got back. “It’s an indescribable feeling,” one of them shouted in the city’s central square. Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Organization), involved since the start of the Syrian civil war, has restarted fighting in a corner of the fractured country, close to the Ottoman border.
The Syrian military command recognized the advance of the rebels and assured that its militants had been attacked from multiple directions, forcing them “to carry out a redeployment operation The objective was to strengthen the defense lines to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers and prepare for a counterattack. » Russia, ally of Bashar al-Assad, was quick to send its support.
Moscow considers the attack to be violation of Syrian sovereigntymaintaining that “the Syrian authorities are restoring order in the region and constitutional order as quickly as possible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. For this reason, on Saturday, the bombing of residential areas from the town of Maraat al Numan in the province of Idlib (also under rebel control), killing four civilians and targeting a suburb of Aleppo. In total, more than 300 deaths since the start of the offensive.
🇸🇾COLLAPSE OF THE SYRIAN ARMY 🇸🇾
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has collapsed in the north of the country. Pro-government forces are withdrawing from the provinces of Idlib, Aleppo and Hama in the face of the advance of Hayath Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian National Army (SNA). pic.twitter.com/KVmXj5iP4V
– Deciphering War (@descifraguerra) November 30, 2024
The Tahrir al-Sham organization, created in 2017, dissociated itself from “the most aggressive and successful branch of the rebel forces” during the Syrian civil war: the al-Nusra Frontterrorist organization which was associated with Al-Qaeda. With its “independence”, Tahrir al-Sham proclaimed “a new stage in the life of the revolution”, calling for remainder of opposing factions from the regime of Bashar al-Assad to join them.
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, rebel brigade commander Jaish al-Izza (Army of Glory), hard opponents of Russian participation in the civil war of his country, declared that the rapid progress “in the recovery of the territory” was possible thanks to the lack of help from Iran to support the Syrian government in Aleppo province.
Poster of the Syrian president on which the face of Bashar al-Assad has been damaged, Aleppo.
Reuters
Jaish al-Izza is a Syrian Sunni Islamist rebel group, affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, operating in northwest Syria. This organization was helped by Qatar, Türkiye and Saudi Arabiaby equipping it with anti-tank missiles (models 9K111 Fagots and BGM-71 TOW).
The accusations begin
He Iranian Foreign MinisterAbbas Araqchi, during a telephone call with his Syrian counterpart last Friday, accused the United States and Israel to be at the origin of the insurgent attack. Certain accusations linked to the blows carried out in recent weeks by Israel against Iran’s allies in the region, in relation to the expansion of the Middle East by the War in Gaza.
Syrian opposition fighters gather in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square in Aleppo.
Reuters
Meanwhile, opposition sources in contact with Turkish intelligence said that Turkey, which supports the rebels, had given the green light to the offensive.
Ankara denied these accusations and stressed that the constant clash between rebels and government forces had ended up giving rise to this “undesirable escalation of tensions”.
Regarding developments in Idlib and the adjacent region:
Maintaining calm in Idlib and the adjacent region, which is at ground zero of our border, is a priority for Turkey.
Since 2017, several agreements have been reached regarding the Idlib de-escalation zone. Türkiye…
— Oncü Keçeli | Dışişleri Bakanlığı Sözcüsü (@SpoxTR_MFA) November 29, 2024
In a statement, Ottoman Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said: “Avoiding further instability in the region was Turkey’s priority” adding that “Ankara had warned that recent attacks in Idlib undermined the spirit and implementation of de-escalation agreements.”
A war that doesn’t stop
This conflict, although it has moved to a third level, It has been dormant since 2011time when the Arab Spring broke out across North Africa and the Middle East.
Among the main causes of the revolution were political corruption; THE violation of human rights; the economic crisis which is suffocating its entire population and, on the contrary, favors those close to the Government; and the totalitarianism of the regime of Bashar al-Assad of Baaz Partyin force since the 1963 coup d’état, which brought his father Háfez al-Ássad to the presidency (1971-2000).
What started with national protests, ended as an international conflictwhen the dictator’s allies came into play: Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Cuba, which They reject foreign intervention and change of government in the country.
Syria thus became the point most affected by the Arab Springgiving rise to the appearance of jihadist organizations like Daesh (which broke away from Al-Qaeda into a more macabre and violent branch led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) and which came to proclaim its “Self-proclaimed” Caliphate (from Syria to Iraq).
In 2015 Russia enters directly into civil war, against its opponents and against Daesh terrorism. A breakthrough made after the support of the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the factions opposed to the al-Ashad regime.
The main objective of their interference was, at the request of the Syrian presidenthelp him stay in government, eliminating his adversaries, including rebel groups, terrorist organizations and the Syrian National Coalition.
The “Syrian opposition”
The “Syrian opposition” is made up of different groups. Among them the Syrian National Council (SNC) (headquartered in Istanbul, Türkiye); THE Kurdish forceswhich have a political group and an armed wing called the People’s Protection Unit (YPG in Kurdish); And jihadist terrorist organizations.
In 2014, Daesh established “its caliphate” and the international coalition – led by the United States – launched what is known as Operation Inherent resolution with the bombing of occupied areas, against the Syrian government. During this offensive, government buildings were destroyed and thousands of civilians died. With the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, the withdrawal of American troops from Syrian soil was ordered, leaving them only to protect the oil zones under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
For his part, Russia, Iran and Shiite groups like Hezbollahthey positioned themselves against Daesh and the rest of the opponents, but on the side of the Government. One year after the operation Inherent resolution (2015), Russia began its parallel struggle against the caliphate.
Despite the fell from the last bastion of Daesh in March 2019the opposition resists and the resistance groups remain alive, a broth of culture which “waited” for the moment to act again.
This was known in Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on Saturday to express his concern about the situation. “dangerous” escalation of hostilities in Syria. During the phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, both sides expressed a “strong support” for Syria’s sovereignty and called for “joint efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation,” according to the ministry.
