Insurgents fighting Assad's Syrian regime enter Aleppo

Surprise offensive is first time city is attacked since 2016

- MAYA GEBEILY

Insurgents fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad have entered Syria's second city of Aleppo in a shock assault - their largest advance in years. Commanders with the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is leading the push, said they intended to force the president’s army out of the city.

It is the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when Syrian government forces were ousted from Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods following a gruelling military campaign in which they were backed by Russia, Iran, and allied groups. Witnesses in Aleppo said residents had been fleeing neighbourhoods on the western edge of the city because of missiles and exchanges of fire.

Syria’s armed forces said in a statement yesterday that they had clashed with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, and that a number of their drones and heavy weapons had been destroyed.