Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad affirmed this Saturday that his country is capable of “defeat the terrorists”in the midst of a lightning offensive launched in the northwest by a coalition dominated by jihadists.
“Syria continues to defend its stability and territorial integrity against all terrorists and their supporters and is capable, with the help of its allies and friends, of defeating and eliminating them, no matter the intensity of their attacks.”Assad said in a telephone conversation with the Emirati head of state, the Syrian Presidency reported in a statement.
Jihadist forces and other rebel formations They took most of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, in a dazzling offensive against Bashar al Assad’s regime in which more than 320 people have died so far, according to an NGO reported this Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom but which has a wide network of informants on the ground, also reported that during the early hours of the morning Russian warplanes bombed Aleppo for the first time since 2016, when the regime reconquered the city with military help from Moscow.
On Saturday afternoon, “at least 16 civilians were killed and another 20 wounded” when “warplanes, probably Russian, attacked civilian vehicles” at a roundabout in Aleppo, the OSDH said.
The Syrian army recognized that “terrorist organizations managed to penetrate large parts of neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo.”
These are the largest clashes in several years in Syria, where the civil war that broke out in 2011 between forces that found external support left half a million dead and millions displaced.
The jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the former Syrian branch of the Al Qaeda network, and allied factions, some supported by Türkiye, They launched an offensive on Wednesday in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, taking dozens of towns before entering the great northern city on Friday.
The OSDH reported on Saturday that HTS militiamen and allied factions had taken “most of the city and government buildings and prisons” of Aleppo.
The jihadists and rebels paraded through the city, installed their flag in front of a police station and tore down a portrait of Assad, according to images from AFP.
Also They took over Aleppo international airportsoutheast of the city, after the withdrawal of government forces, indicated the OSDH.
The report adds that the rebels advanced in the provinces of Hama and Idlib, capturing “dozens of strategic towns without encountering resistance.”
According to the NGO’s latest balance sheet, 327 people have died since Wednesday: 183 HTS combatants and their allies, 100 soldiers and members of pro-government forces and 44 civilians.
Iran indicated that “terrorist elements” had attacked its consulate in Aleppo and advocated establishing “coordination” between his country and Russia to come to the aid of the Assad regime. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi “will go to Damascus on Sunday to hold talks with the Syrian authorities,” his ministry indicated.
Besides, The Iraqi Army has redoubled the border with Syria with “advanced weapons, drones and infrared cameras” in the face of the resurgence in hostilities caused by the advance of jihadists in northwest Syria.
In an interview with the American network NBCthe spokesman for the Iraqi Army Command Headquarters, General Yahya Rasul, also assured that “the armed forces and all security formations are ready to protect Iraq’s borders and airspace from possible threats.”
Iraq is thus responding to another critical moment given that it could end up trapped in another armed conflict again. To the attacks against the pro-Iranian militias that operate in its territory within the framework of the hostilities between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, the consequences of the advance of jihadist and rebel groups in northwest Syria could be added.
In fact, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al Abbasi visited the border with Syria this Saturday to supervise security preparations.
Al Abbasi “has held meetings with the operations commanders” on the border to discuss “the latest events in Syria and their implications for Iraq, as well as security preparations to secure the border and prevent the infiltration of terrorists and armed groups into Iraqi territory,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The minister also carried out an “aerial reconnaissance tour along the border strip between Iraq and Syria” to inspect the measures taken by the security forces.
(With information from AFP and EP)
