Russian Jets Support Syrian Counteroffensive After Jihadist Insurgents Capture Aleppo

Hours after thousands of Syrian Islamic militants entered Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, facing little resistance from government troops, and fanned out inside the city in vehicles with improvised armor and pickups, deploying to landmarks such as the old citadel on Saturday, Russian fighter jets stationed in Syria carried out airstrikes against the jihadist militants attacking the northern city of Aleppo, the spokesman for Moscow’s expeditionary force has said. The escalation follows after the Al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham or HTS (an offshoot of Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra) insurgent group, which was added by the US State Department to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2018, and allied militias attacked government-controlled territory in northern Syria on Wednesday, breaking a fragile truce mediated by Russia and Turkey in 2020.

Assad’s Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is in Full Retreat across Northern Syria, as Turkish-Backed Forces advance from the Northwest and U.S-Backed Forces advance from the East. pic.twitter.com/obJ5hvuIma

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 30, 2024

“Providing support to the Syrian Arab Army, the Russian Aerospace Forces are carrying out missile and bomb strikes on the equipment and manpower of illegal armed groups, command posts, warehouses, and artillery positions of terrorists. Over the past 24 hours, at least 200 militants have been eliminated,” Colonel Oleg Ignasyuk, the deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, told reporters in a briefing on Friday. He added that another 400 militants were killed by Russian and Syrian forces the day before.

Also on Saturday, Syria’s armed forces said that to absorb the large attack on Aleppo – which is located 350 kilometers north of Damascus – and save lives, it has redeployed and is preparing for a counterattack. The statement acknowledged that insurgents entered large parts of the city but said they have not established bases or checkpoints.

Terrorists were filmed outside police headquarters, in the city center, and outside the Aleppo Citadel. They tore down posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, stepping on some and burning others.

⚡️Airstrike carried out on Al Nusra fighters who were tearing down the statue of Bashar al-Assad’s brother in Aleppo pic.twitter.com/qAC1K4f9Db

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 30, 2024

The surprising takeover of Aleppo following the blitz campaign is an embarrassment for Assad, who managed to regain total control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which his forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since then. The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

🇸🇾 Clashes between Syrian Defense Forces and terrorist formations reported in northern Aleppo.

* The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a coalition of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian militias formed in 2015 during the Syrian Civil War. Led by the Kurdish YPG, it operates primarily in… pic.twitter.com/X90u6HYJX7

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) November 30, 2024

Before adopting its current name in 2017, HTS was known as Jabhat al-Nusra, and was one of the main Sunni islamist factions opposing President Bashar Assad’s government during the Syrian Civil War. Jabhat al-Nusra was originally founded as an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Syria.

The jihadists launched their shock offensive in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside on Wednesday and wrestled control of dozens of villages and towns before entering Aleppo on Friday. The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported airstrikes on the edge of Aleppo city targeting rebel supply lines. It posted a video of a missile landing on a gathering of fighters and vehicles, in a street lined with trees and buildings.

The timing is remarkable: over the past decade, Syria has become a focal point of rapid foreign military escalation with the CIA-backed Islamic State emerging out of nowhere in 2014 and destabilizing the region for the next 4 years, and now – during a time of upheaval for the Deep State – it is once again Syria that is the focus of CIA escalatory tactics, this time involving another Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization, the HTS.

The push into Aleppo followed weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. In its amusing commentary, the AP notes that Turkey, which has openly backed Syrian opposition groups, “failed in its diplomatic efforts to prevent the Syrian government attacks”, which were seen as a violation of a 2019 agreement sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran to freeze the line of the conflict. What the AP really means is that Turkey has once again been quietly seeking to destabilize the region and has succeeded.

The latest offensive comes as Iran-linked groups, primarily Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battles at home. A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month war with Israel took effect Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

According to social media reports, government troops remained in the city’s airport and at a military academy but most of the forces have already filed out of the city from the south. Syrian Kurdish forces remained in two neighborhoods. The redeployment “is a temporary measure and (the military central command and armed forces) will work to guarantee the security and peace of all our people in Aleppo,” the military statement said.

There was light traffic in the city center on Saturday according to AP. Opposition fighters fired in the air in celebration but there was no sign of clashes or government troops presence. Earlier in the day, HTS told Al Jazeera and Türkiye’s Anadolu news agency that its fighters had entered several neighborhoods of Aleppo. The group claimed to have taken control of over 400 square kilometers of land in Aleppo and Idlib provinces and captured heavy weaponry and other equipment from the Syrian Army.

For the first time ever, Syrian Opposition Forces are claiming to have Captured the entire Idlib Governorate in the Northwest. pic.twitter.com/uEmA1gI0jJ

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 30, 2024

Videos shared on social media purportedly show HTS gunmen moving through Aleppo on foot and in armored vehicles.

The government in Damascus said its troops have “inflicted heavy losses” on the attackers and regained control of some areas. Local media reported the arrival of Syrian Army reinforcements to both Idlib and Aleppo on Friday. Meanwhile Russian fighter jets stationed in Syria carried out multiple airstrikes against jihadist militants attacking the northern city of Aleppo. Twenty fighters were killed in the airstrikes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire. Some fled the fighting.

⚡️Airstrike carried out on Al Nusra fighters who were tearing down the statue of Bashar al-Assad’s brother in Aleppo pic.twitter.com/qAC1K4f9Db

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 30, 2024

Schools and government offices were closed Saturday as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open. Witnesses said the insurgents deployed security forces around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.

BREAKING NEWS – Russian airstrikes target the outskirts of the governorate building in Aleppo, Syria. pic.twitter.com/aJA5d0brey

— Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول (@FARED_ALHOR) November 30, 2024

Russia intervened in the conflict in 2015, helping Assad retake much of the country from al-Nusra, the Islamic State, and dozens of US-supported armed groups described by Washington as ‘moderate rebels’.

NEW – #Russia just struck central #Aleppo city for the 1st time since its capture, hitting a group of celebrating civilians reportedly.

Approximately 20 bodies torn apart & strewn across the street. It’s started.

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) November 30, 2024

Syrian forces lifted the nearly five-year siege of Aleppo in December 2016 and pushed al-Nusra and other groups west into Idlib province. Türkiye took responsibility for Idlib in 2018, vowing to separate terrorists from “legitimate rebels,” but never did so. A March 2020 agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was meant to permanently end the fighting around Idlib.

* * *

Appendix: A Primer on the Islamic group HTS, Who They Are, and why Iran, Israel are wary of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists? (via The Week)

Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is once again in the news after a fresh rebel offensive in Aleppo put the government forces on the back foot. Bashar al-Assad’s government troops lost significant ground to the sudden attack by HTS-led fighters, losing control of several villages and military establishments in Aleppo — located almost 350 kilometres away from Damascus.

In an already volatile Middle East, reports of unrest and gunfights returning to Syria are bad news. As the country braces for the return of conflict-ridden days, the focus is back on the HTS, which was once affiliated with terror group al-Qaida. Here is what you need to know about Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is the principal rebel fighting force behind the fresh violence in Syria.

Syria’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham rebels

The US Department of State added Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) in 2018. Traced back to the early days of the Syrian civil war, HTS is an offshoot of al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham loosely translates to the “Organization for the Liberation of the Levant” in English. Based out of Idlib, the organization enjoyed operational presence in Syria’s Aleppo, Hama, Dera’a, and Damascus during its prime.  According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remains the most powerful anti-government armed group in northwest Syria.

Who leads HTS? What is its take on Israel?

Initially, the organization was funded by sympathizers from the Persian Gulf. Its style of taxing territories under control and effective insurgent attacks attracted more fighters to its ranks despite the presence of numerous outfits in the region.

In 2017, the group guided by Salafi-jihadist ideology openly split from the al-Qaeda and is currently led by Abu Mohammed al-Golani. According to US-based Center For Strategic and International Studies, despite the split, HTS, in theory, continues to have a secret relationship with al-Qaeda and receives strategic and operational guidance from the Islamic terror organisation.

Also called Muhammad al-Jawlani and Muhammad al-Julani, the 42-year-old led the al-Nusrah Front (ANF) before its merger with the HTS. On May 16, 2013, the US Department of State designated al-Jawlani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for carrying out several terrorist attacks targeting civilians across Syria.

HTS: An Islamic organization with “local” goals

The major difference between HTS and al-Qaeda is the fact that unlike the latter, HTS in recent times has distanced itself from the dream of establishing an Islamic Caliphate across the world.

The organisation has declared its ultimate objective to be the establishment of Islamic rule in Syria and the expelling of Iranian militias from the country. The toppling of the Assad government remains the aim of “modern” HTS, CSIS says, despite Abu al-Jolani having made statements like “With this spirit… we will not only reach Damascus, but, Allah permitting, Jerusalem will be awaiting our arrival” in the past.  

This indicates the Zionist ideology and the Jewish state of Israel is a sworn enemy of the HTS like most other Islamic militant groups.

A rebel group that governs Syrian regions!

In 2017 of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), a body made up of independent and HTS-linked technocrats, was formed to function as the HTS’s governance wing. Through the SSG, HTS administers various welfare services, delivers essential goods, and runs food aid programs.

It also has a monopoly on the economy through control of al-Sham Bank and the oil sector through Watad Company. SSG has established itself as the de facto administrative authority in the territories under its purview and controls the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, through which flows the humanitarian aid on which 90% of the four million people living in northwest Syria depend, the ACLED report claims.

HTS has pushed the theory that it is “an independent entity that follows no organization or party, al-Qaeda or others” hard in recent years. HTS leadership went to the extent of arresting al-Qaeda-linked individuals in its territories to prove its independent existence. Yet, the West has reasons to believe secret ties exist between the two groups and refuses to engage in talks with its leadership.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham today: War in Aleppo and total strength

The Russian-Turkish truce of March 2020 ended Syrian government offensives against rebel factions. This gave HTS and its sworn ally al-Fath al-Mubin Operation Room to regroup. US reports show that since 2022, Syrian forces have come under constant attacks by the two groups. Sniper fire has been the common strategy of HTS fighters to target government troops in its strongholds and many lives have been lost in these frequent skirmishes.

HTS commanded the allegiance of a fighting force of between 12,000 and 15,000 militants as of October 2018. It is unknown how many new fighters were recruited ahead of the fresh offensive. It is reported that HTS is supported by several Turkish-backed factions in the recent offense. Although many of these groups dislike each other, they have come together under the ‘Syrian National Army’ due to their mutual hatred for Assad.