Insurgents Breach Syria’s Second-Largest City Aleppo in Shock Offensive

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BEIRUT — Insurgents breached Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo after blowing up two car bombs on Friday and were clashing with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to a Syria war monitor and fighters. Residents were fleeing neighborhoods on the city’s edge because of missiles and gunfire, according to witnesses in Aleppo.

The insurgents’ advance on Aleppo followed a shock offensive they launched on Wednesday, as thousands of fighters swept through villages and towns in Syria’s northwestern countryside.

The surprise attack added new uncertainly to a region already reeling from the dual wars in Gaza and Lebanon with Israel, and other conflicts including the unresolved Syrian civil war that began in 2011.

It was the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were ousted from Aleppo’s eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

But this time, there was no sign of a significant pushback from government forces or their allies. Instead, there were reports of government forces melting away in the face of advances, and insurgents have posted messages on social media, calling on troops to surrender. The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, primarily Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who had backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battle at home.

A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month-long war with Israel came into force 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.

The attack on Aleppo came after weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, which has backed Syrian opposition groups, failed in its diplomatic efforts to prevent the 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.

Turkish security officials said on Thursday that Syrian opposition groups initially launched a long-planned “limited” offensive toward Aleppo, from where attacks targeting civilians originated. However, the offensive expanded as Syrian government forces began retreating from their positions, the officials said.

The aim of the offensive was to reestablish the boundaries of the de-escalation zone, according to Turkish officials.

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