Fighting in northern Syria between regime forces and jihadists, who launched an offensive against government-controlled territories on Wednesday, left 141 dead, according to a new report provided Thursday, November 28, by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (OSDH), which reports an Offensive launched against government-controlled territories near Aleppo.
These are 71 jihadist fighters from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (or HTC – “Levant Liberation Organization”), 18 members of allied groups and “52 members of the regime forces”specified the non-governmental organization (NGO) based in London and which has a wide network of sources in Syria.
In addition to rocket launches and “intense artillery fire”The OSDH also indicated that “Russian aviation”ally of the regime, “had intensified its air attacks”aimed in particular at the surroundings of Sarmine in the Idlib region. For its part, the Syrian Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that the HTS jihadists and their allies launched on Wednesday morning “a major attack on a wide front with a large number of terrorists using heavy weapons to attack villages, towns and military positions”.
Fighting near Aleppo
The NGO reported two villages captured by jihadists in the western province of Aleppo and three villages in a government-controlled sector of Idlib province. According to her, these are “more violent” Clashes have been going on for years in this sector, where the province of Aleppo and its territories, in the hands of the Bashar Al-Assad regime, border the last major rebel and jihadist stronghold of Idlib.
Fighting sometimes takes place less than 10 kilometers from the government-controlled metropolis of Aleppo. They also take place near a highway that connects Aleppo with the capital, Damascus, which the jihadists are trying to reach to cut off this strategic axis, according to the OSDH.
HTS, dominated by the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, controls parts of Idlib province, but also neighboring territories in the regions of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia. Northern Syria has benefited in recent years from an uneasy calm made possible by a ceasefire established after a regime offensive in March 2020. The truce was sponsored by Moscow with Turkey, which supports certain Syrian rebel groups in its border.
The Syrian regime has regained control of much of the country with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies since the conflict broke out in 2011, leaving more than half a million dead and millions displaced.
Where is the war in Syria today? Understand in three minutes
Like Tunisia, Libya or Egypt, in 2011 Syria was one of the countries whose authoritarian power was destabilized by the “Arab Spring”. The dictatorship of the Bashar Al-Assad clan, in power since the 1970s, bloodily represses peaceful demonstrations led by a part of the Syrian population to demand more freedom.
In the process, many soldiers deserted and created the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which became the main component of the rebels determined to take up arms to overthrow the regime.
In the following years, the opposition to Bashar Al-Assad gained ground, conquering important cities in the territory. Added to the political conflict is the religious and ethnic conflict, because the rebels are a heterogeneous group, made up of militias of opponents of the regime, religious and ethnic minorities such as the Kurds, as well as radical Islamist groups, such as the Islamic State organization. (IS). He will take advantage of the instability to conquer an important territory. The rise of the Islamist group will eventually convince foreign powers to intervene in the conflict.
In 2019, ISIS was defeated in Syria and Bashar Al-Assad’s regime regained two-thirds of the territory. The opposition is concentrated in the northwestern province of the country. The front lines have been frozen ever since.
In this video we review the main moments of the Syrian conflict up to the current situation. To date, it is estimated that the war has left more than 500,000 dead. To better understand what life is like in Syria today, we invite you to read the report below.
“Understand in three minutes”
The explanatory videos that make up the “Understanding in three minutes” series are produced by the Vertical Videos department of the World. Mainly spread on platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, their goal is to contextualize big events in a short format and make the news accessible to everyone.
