Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in ‘violent confrontations’ with armed groups in Hama, according to reports
Syrian insurgents fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have launched attacks in the central province of Hama, threatening to cut off government troops from a key route linking the capital, Damascus, with rebel-held Aleppo.
The army was engaging in “violent confrontations” with armed groups in Hama, the Syrian state news agency Sana reported.
Continue reading...Assault on Syria’s second-largest city by Islamist militants may tarnish Russia’s reputation as a global player
The walls of the military office in Aleppo were adorned with pictures of the Kremlin, flanked by Russian and Syrian flags hanging side by side. On the desks, documents detailing the cooperation between the two nations lay abandoned – telltale signs of Bashar al-Assad’s forces’ hasty retreat as rebels closed in on Syria’s second-biggest city over the weekend.
The short clip circulating online was recorded in the office of Russian advisers at Aleppo’s military academy after it was taken by rebels in a surprise offensive. It highlights the escalating threat to the Assad regime and, by extension, to Moscow’s strategic foothold in Syria and the broader region.
Continue reading...White Helmets say at least 18 people killed in strikes on five healthcare facilities including maternity hospital
A wave of airstrikes has pummelled hospitals and neighbourhoods in the rebel-held region of Idlib in northern Syria as Islamist insurgents continued to battle forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad after the militants’ lightning assault on Aleppo.
White Helmets civil defence forces based in Idlib, from where the insurgents had launched their attack, said Russian airstrikes had struck five healthcare facilities including a maternity hospital. At least 18 people were killed and 35 injured, they said, adding that they feared numbers could rise.
Continue reading...The fast-moving offensive began on Wednesday, surprising forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and his allies
Eight years ago, indiscriminate Russian airstrikes helped the forces of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, drive rebels from Aleppo – a crucial turning point in the country’s civil war, which has largely been in a state of stalemate since 2020.
Over the weekend a stunning rebel offensive seized Aleppo again – and the Assad regime now faces its greatest threat in years. Here’s what you need to know.
Continue reading...Forces only took three days to take the city from Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but the Middle East’s newest conflict looks set to last
It was not Kyiv that fell in three days, but Aleppo. A surprise offensive launched by Syrian rebels from the north west of the country last week has reignited a dormant conflict – and revealed a change in the balance of power caused not by one but two nearby wars, in Ukraine and Lebanon and the Middle East.
Aleppo was the scene of fierce and destructive fighting between 2012 and 2016 when the Syrian civil war was at its height. Rebel groups were forced out as Syrian government forces supporting the president, Bashar al-Assad, were able to capture the country’s second city, with the help of Russia and its air force.
Continue reading...Syria’s second largest city left reeling after anti-government fighters seized control in surprise offensive
It was 2am on Saturday when Nasma’s husband told her there were uniformed fighters in their neighbourhood of western Aleppo – but they were not from the Syrian army. He stood on their balcony to get a better view, before the men told him to go back indoors.
News of the militias’ advance in the countryside around Aleppo had spread fast, although Nasma – who requested a pseudonym for her safety – didn’t believe that change was coming until she saw displaced people arriving in the city from surrounding villages.
Continue reading...Surprise offensive by rebels marks biggest challenge to Bashar al-Assad’s control in years
Islamist rebels once exiled to a mountainous pocket of the Syrian countryside now roam the streets of central Aleppo, taking pictures below its ancient citadel and tearing down symbols of President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
The surprise offensive in which insurgents seized territory across north-western Syria appears to have dramatically shifted the balance of power in Aleppo, the country’s second largest city, and marks the most serious challenge to Assad’s control in years.
Continue reading...Beset by crumbling infrastructure and food shortages, Syria’s war-ravaged population was unprepared for the deadly quake
Syria bears the scars of 12 years of brutal war, the effects of which are likely to hamper aid efforts in the areas worst hit by the quake. Beset by conflict, food shortages, economic collapse and a recent cholera outbreak, the country’s national infrastructure has been at crisis point for years, barely able to support its war-weary population.
And that was before the worst earthquake to hit the region in decades struck.
Continue reading...Mural artist Hussein Sabbagh, 13, one of 27 children killed in government attacks in north-west Syria in two months
Amid the rubble of bombed homes in Binnish, a town in north-west Syria, a brightly painted mural stands out. The image shows an intact house, with love hearts streaming from the windows. Overhead, however, the dark silhouettes of birds are accompanied by helicopters, warplanes and missiles, and the garden’s red and yellow flowers look like flames.
Related: Syria: Assad shells former opposition stronghold Deraa
Continue reading...Fears Syrian government carrying out ‘degrading’ exhumations to erase identities and forensic evidence
Fadwa Hallak’s memory of what happened the day her husband died is blurry.
Ibrahim Rahawi was killed by shrapnel in either an airstrike or missile attack in 2015 during the siege of Aleppo – one of the bloodiest and most brutal chapters of Syria’s long war.
Continue reading...When the Observer spoke to people in the besieged city three years ago, they told of their daily struggle. Now they tell their stories of exile
In December 2016, in the eastern half of Aleppo, a brutal siege was drawing to a bloody end. The last bombs were falling on its shattered streets, snipers were picking off their last victims. Besieged civilians, if they still had food, prepared their final meagre meals inside a city they had clung to for four painful years.
Continue reading...Thousands of Aleppians are using a Facebook group to share their way of life before the Syrian war
Going to the hammam was once a beloved ritual for Aleppo resident Atef Shikhouni and his friends. Recalling the boisterous, joyful experience, the 55-year-old wrote: “Here is a man shouting, ‘Where is the soap?’ while another one is asking for the shampoo and a third wants someone to rub his back. It becomes very noisy. After spending some time in the sauna, it is time for the ‘rubbing man’. He uses a rough loofah to rub my body mercilessly and I pray it will end without any damage.”
But that was before the outbreak of war in Syria. “Today, the bath is cold and has no soul,” the sports teacher wrote in February 2017, shortly after the worst of the fighting in Aleppo had ended. “Cruel are our days, exactly like our bath today.”
Continue reading...Five-storey building falls in formerly rebel-held neighbourhood of Syria’s second city
At least 11 people, including four children, have died after a block of flats collapsed in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, according to state media.
One child was pulled out alive from the rubble of the five-storey, war-damaged block after rescue teams worked to remove the shattered breeze blocks that had buried him, AFP photographers said.
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