Russia launches first strike on Aleppo since 2016 after Jihadist rebels overtake Syrian city
Russia Aleppo airstrike
Russia on Saturday (Nov 30) launched its first air strikes on Aleppo since 2016, targeting jihadist-led rebels that have seized the Syrian town's airport and dozens of nearby towns.
This comes as the jihadists and their Turkish-backed allies launched an offensive on Wednesday after a ceasefire in neighbouring Lebanon took effect.
The news of Russian strikes was confirmed by Russian agencies, which cited the nation's Defence Ministry. The Russian Defence Ministry stated that the strikes were carried out in support of the Syrian army, against Syrian rebels.
Moscow claims to have killed 300 fighters. The state-run Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of the Enemy Parties in Syria said missile and bomb strikes against the rebels had targeted "militant concentrations, command posts, depots, and artillery positions" in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
A bold rebel assault
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Reuters reports that the rebel offensive was the boldest assault in years in a civil war where the front lines had largely been frozen since 2020. The fighting according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has killed at least 327 people, including 44 civilians.
In a phone call with his Emirati counterpart, President Bashar al-Assad pledged to defeat the "terrorists," no matter how extensive their attacks.
Aleppo, once Syria’s economic hub, had been firmly under government control since a 2016 victory. Back then, it was seized by Russian-backed Syrian forces, which besieged and laid waste to rebel-held eastern areas.
The offensive has drawn global attention, with France calling for the protection of civilians. The US distanced itself from the offensive, labelling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) a terrorist group, and criticised Assad’s reliance on Russia and Iran for creating conditions that led to the current crisis.
Syria's "reliance on Russia and Iran," along with its refusal to move forward with a 2015 peace process outlined by the UN Security Council, "created the conditions now unfolding," said National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett in a statement on Saturday.
(With inputs from agencies)
