The Syrian Army Acknowledges Retreat from Aleppo Amidst Rebel Military Push

The war has fully engulfed Aleppo, Syria's second most important city and a symbol of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Rebel troops led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) have taken 'more than half' of the city this Saturday and are already circulating through historic sites such as the Great Mosque, the citadel, and Saadalá al Yabri square, the most important in the regional capital, according to Al Jazeera.

The Syrian army itself acknowledged this morning that it has retreated from Aleppo due to the numerous 'terrorist' contingents and the fact that they have deployed on 'multiple combat fronts', which are unmanageable for government troops. The armed forces have explained that they are waiting for reinforcements to organise a possible reconquest of the lost ground.

The opposition has made a great show of strength and since Friday has swept away any sign of resistance in a large number of districts in the regional capital. However, the battles fought between the two sides have been less than what could have been expected in a clash of this nature, according to initial observer reports, as the military apparently did not put up substantial resistance, overwhelmed by the volume of enemy troops. The insurgents have also conquered more than fifty towns, some of them of high strategic value. This is the case of Saraqab, in the northwestern province of Idlib, which until now was a key supply route for the government army in Aleppo.

For the first time since 2016, when the regime expelled the rebels from this major city with the help of Russia and Iran, fear has once again settled among its two million inhabitants. Occasionally, the whistle of missiles can be heard and the motorcycles of the fighters roam the streets. There are checkpoints, the traffic on the main highway linking Aleppo with Damascus has been diverted to avoid civilian casualties, the authorities have closed the airport, and security forces have imposed a 'curfew' to clear 'the remnants of war'; a term seen as a euphemism at this time following the army's withdrawal and when the confrontation shows no end in sight. The government, in any case, tries to downplay the scope of the offensive and attributes any news of an opposition advance to 'disinformation'.

It is also the first time in eight years that Russian and Syrian aviation has bombed Aleppo and other enclaves that have fallen into the hands of HTS and its allied militias. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a highly reliable organisation based in London, reported that four people died early Saturday morning after a Russian fighter jet fired three missiles at a military barracks in Mare, a rural community north of Aleppo.

The base had been taken hours earlier by the National Army, a paramilitary group in the region that includes former soldiers and mercenaries. Airstrikes have also focused on the Al Furqan neighbourhood in the west of the city, where the insurgency has managed to establish a kind of bridgehead. Through this point, the militants have managed to enter the historic centre and advance apparently without major problems in a swift campaign.

Some strategists believe that Aleppo has technically fallen and that the rebels will soon reoccupy the entire city from which they were expelled in 2016 under the push of Syrian troops, with the collaboration of Russia and Iran. According to these sources, the armed opposition has already adopted a dominant position over the main strategic enclaves after overcoming any possibility of the army carrying out an imminent counteroffensive. The insurgent military command has stated on Telegram that there has been a 'significant collapse' of government troops and that numerous soldiers have 'withdrawn from several strategic locations' throughout Aleppo province and neighbouring Idlib, which is the opposition's stronghold in Syria.

As militias advanced early this morning, trucks equipped with powerful loudspeakers and messages on social media urged Al-Assad's soldiers and the population not to resist. The rebel command claims that the military has abandoned the centre of Aleppo and taken refuge in the east, in Al Safira, where the provincial governor is also said to have relocated.

Their version coincides with that conveyed by the Syrian army, which acknowledges having suffered 'dozens' of casualties and admits its retreat as 'temporary'. 'The large number of terrorists and the multiple combat fronts led our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening defence lines to absorb the attack, preserve civilian and soldier lives, and prepare for a counterattack,' states an official communiqué from the General Staff.

Regarding President Al-Assad, who has had to request military assistance from the Kremlin, there are rumours that he is in Moscow. The last time the Syrian leader was in the Russian capital was at the end of June, when he met with President Vladimir Putin to discuss the deteriorating conflict in the Middle East. The two leaders then reaffirmed their commitment to deepen mutual cooperation in security, trade, and economy. In this regard, the Kremlin has promised the Damascus government that it will send reinforcements within 72 hours to fight against the rebels. The UN has declared itself 'deeply alarmed by the situation', due to the risk to the civilian population and the increased destabilisation in the Middle East.

The lightning operation by jihadist factions began last Wednesday, as Israel and Hezbollah tested the first hours of their provisional ceasefire in Lebanon. The offensive represents the opposition's response to the increase in attacks by the government army and Russian troops on their traditional strongholds. In practice, it implies the breaking of the ceasefire decreed in 2020 after Al-Assad's last military campaign against the insurgency.

The army has been surprised by the pressure from Hayat Tahrir al Sham forces, which in this last four-year period seems to have accumulated a significant amount of heavy weaponry, drones, and armoured vehicles. In Aleppo, they have seized several government headquarters and prisons. Although all this is taking its toll in blood. According to the UK-based observatory, at least sixty people died this Saturday, bringing the four-day fighting toll to 311 dead. Of these, 183 are Islamist fighters and other pro-Turkish factions. There are also a hundred Syrian soldiers and pro-Iranian allied groups, as well as 28 civilians among the fatalities.