Rebels Advance Through Aleppo City as Airstrikes Hit Their Locations
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Damascus, Nov 30 (NationPress) Armed factions of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have disseminated throughout numerous streets and districts in Aleppo, Syria on Saturday, following their assault on sections of the city the previous day, according to reports from local media and opposition activists.
The majority of civilians are remaining indoors, with schools and government facilities nearly entirely closed, as reported by Xinhua news agency citing Sham FM radio.
On Friday, the HTS along with allied rebel factions surged into regions of Aleppo city for the first time since their expulsion from the area in 2016. This escalation occurred after the HTS initiated a significant offensive in the western outskirts of Aleppo on Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitoring organization, stated that the HTS has taken control of approximately half of the city.
Early Saturday, warplanes conducted airstrikes on the al-Furqan district adjacent to the New Aleppo area in the western section of the city.
The airstrikes and sporadic confrontations with government forces resulted in the fatalities of 20 HTS combatants, according to the observatory.
Footage surfaced on Friday night from Aleppo showing HTS fighters liberating prisoners from government detention centers. Other fighters recorded themselves celebrating their takeover of the historic citadel of Aleppo and other significant city landmarks.
The governor of Aleppo, along with police chiefs and security officials, have retreated from the city center, as reported by the observatory.
This sudden uptick in violence has rekindled tensions in Aleppo, a city that has faced years of catastrophic warfare throughout Syria's prolonged conflict.
Government officials have yet to release formal statements regarding the recent events, apart from a statement from the Syrian Defence Ministry, which indicates that the army is engaged in intense combat against the HTS and its allied militant groups.
