After entering Aleppo, the Syrian insurgents moved on to the neighboring province. Assad says he will defeat them – nationally

BEIRUT (AP) – Thousands of Syrian rebels took over a large part of Aleppo on Saturday, establishing positions in the country's largest city and taking control of its airport before expanding their offensive into a nearby province. They faced little resistance from government forces, according to soldiers and activists.

The war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized Aleppo International Airport, the first international airport to be controlled by the rebels. The soldiers said they seized the airport and put the pictures there.

Thousands of fighters also advanced, unopposed by government forces, to take over towns and villages in northern Hama, the province where they had been before being driven out by government forces in 2016. They entered the city of Hama on Saturday evening. Come on.

Big disappointment for Assad

This swift and surprising attack is a major embarrassment for Syrian President Bashar Assad and raises questions about the preparedness of his forces. The rebel attack launched on their stronghold in the north-west of the country appears to have been planned for years. It also comes at a time when Assad's allies are busy with their own conflicts.

In his first public remarks since the start of the offensive, released by the state-run news agency on Saturday evening, Assad said Syria would continue to “protect stability and territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters.” He added that Syria is capable of defeating them no matter how intense their attacks are.

Turkey, a major supporter of the Syrian opposition, said its diplomatic efforts had failed to stop a government offensive on opposition-held areas in recent weeks, which violated an economic withdrawal agreement backed by Russia, Iran and Ankara. Turkish security officials said a limited offensive by rebels was planned to stop the government offensive and allow civilians to return, but the attacks increased as Syrian government forces began to withdraw from their positions.

The militants, led by the Salafi jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and pro-Turkish fighters, launched their shocking attack on Wednesday. They first launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the countryside of Idlib, entering Aleppo after two days and finding a high-level city on the main road that connects the Syrian capital to the capital and the coast.

On Saturday evening, they seized at least four towns in central Hama province and entered the provincial capital. The insurgents tried to regain the areas they controlled in Hama in 2017 but failed.

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Preparing for an attack

The Syrian army said in a statement on Saturday that in order to play a major role in the attack on Aleppo and save lives, it has re-deployed troops and equipment and is preparing for an attack. The statement acknowledged that the insurgents had entered large parts of the city but said they had not yet found bases or checkpoints. Later on Saturday, the military sought to dispel what it said were false reports about its soldiers defecting or defecting, saying the general command was carrying out its mission “to fight against terrorist organizations.”

The rebels' return to Aleppo was the first since 2016, following a heavy military campaign in which Assad's forces were backed by Russia, Iran and allied groups.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebels after the 2011 protests against the Assad regime turned into an all-out war. After it seemed that the country was losing control of the rebels, the battle for Aleppo ensured that Assad was able to hold on to areas of Syria, with opposition groups and their foreign allies controlling the outskirts.

This lightning threat threatens to restart the civil war in this country, which has been raging for many years.

Late Friday, witnesses said two airstrikes hit the outskirts of Aleppo city, targeting rebel-held areas and landing near residential areas. The Observatory said 20 soldiers were killed.

Rebels were filmed outside the police headquarters, in the city center, and outside the Aleppo citadel, a medieval palace in the heart of the old city, and one of the largest in the world. They tore down posters of Assad, trampled some and burned some.

The Aleppo offensive followed weeks of low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas.

The provocation came as Iran-linked groups, particularly Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has been supporting Syrian government forces since 2015, are busy with their own wars at home. A two-month cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect on Wednesday, the same day Syrian opposition groups announced their offensive. Israel has also increased its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

Terrorists raise flags over the Aleppo citadel

Speaking from the heart of the city in Saadallah Aljabri square, opposition fighter Mohammad Al Abdo said it was the first time he returned to Aleppo in 13 years, when his older brother was killed at the beginning of the war.

“God willing, the entire province of Aleppo will be liberated” from government forces, he said.

There was little traffic in the city center on Saturday. The opposition groups fired in the air in celebration but there were no clashes or government forces were present.

Journalists in the city filmed soldiers captured by the rebels and the bodies of others killed in the battle.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned on Friday night after hearing that rebels were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories.”

“When I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself that this is impossible. How did this happen?”

Alhamdo said he was walking around the city at night visiting the Aleppo citadel, where the terrorists raised their flags, the main square and the university of Aleppo, and the last place he was before he was forced to leave for the countryside.

“I entered the (empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting, 'People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,'” ​​he told The Associated Press in a series of messages.

The city's hospitals are full

Aleppo residents reported hearing clashes and gunfire but most stayed indoors. Others fled to fight.

Schools and government offices were closed on Saturday as most people stayed at home, according to Sham FM, a government-sponsored station. The bakeries were open. Eyewitnesses said the rebels have deployed soldiers around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday that Aleppo's two main hospitals were reportedly full of patients while many private facilities were closed.

On social media, the rebels were photographed outside the castle, a medieval palace in the heart of the old city, and one of the largest in the world. In cell phone videos, they recorded themselves having conversations with residents who visited their homes, trying to reassure them that they would not be taken advantage of.

Syria's Kurdish-led administration in the country's east says around 3,000 people, most of them students, have arrived in their region after fleeing fighting in Aleppo, which has a Kurdish majority.

State media reported that dozens of “terrorists,” including sleeper cells, entered parts of the city. Government troops rushed to arrest a number of people who were taking pictures near the city's locations, they said.

On Saturday morning's TV morning show, commentators said the military buildup and Russian aid would drive out “terrorist groups,” accusing Turkey of supporting the militants' push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Russian news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, the Russian Defense Ministry's liaison officer in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes had targeted and killed 200 terrorists who launched an attack in the northwest on Friday. It did not provide further details.