Military says dozens of soldiers killed in attacks in northwest and it was regrouping to launch a \u2018counterattack\u2019
\n Aleppo
\nSyria\u2019s military has announced a \u201ctemporary troop withdrawal\u201d in the northwestern city of Aleppo, where rebel groups launched a surprise offensive on government-held positions for the first time in years.
\nThe military said on Saturday that dozens of its soldiers had been killed or wounded in fierce battles with \u201carmed terrorist organisations\u201d in the governorates of Aleppo and Idlib over the previous few days and that it was now regrouping, redeploying troops to strengthen its defence lines as it prepared a \u201ccounterattack\u201d.
\nIt said that rebel groups had launched \u201ca broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts\u201d, reporting clashes \u201cover a strip exceeding 100km [60 miles]\u201d.
\nThe army said the rebels had entered large parts of Aleppo but army bombardment had stopped them from establishing fixed positions. It promised to \u201cexpel them and restore the control of the state \u2026 over the entire city and its countryside\u201d.
\nThe statement marked the military\u2019s first public acknowledgement that opposition fighters led by the Hay\u2019et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group had entered \u201clarge parts of neighbourhoods\u201d of Aleppo in the lightning attack that began earlier this week.
\nAleppo had been under full state control since government forces backed by Russia and Iran drove out rebels eight years ago.
\nOn Friday, Syrian state television said Russia was providing Syria\u2019s military with air support.
\nThe Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in opposition-held parts of Syria, said in a post on X that Syrian government and Russian aircraft carried out air attacks on residential neighbourhoods, a petrol station and a school in rebel-held Idlib, killing four civilians and wounding six others.
\nOn Saturday, a witness in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that rebel fighters were \u201ccombing\u201d Aleppo in search of soldiers.
\n\u201cLast night, they had some prisoners of war, regime soldiers, but they took very good care of them and moved them out immediately so they wouldn\u2019t be in any danger,\u201d the witness said.
\nThe advance by HTS-led fighters opened the way for some long-displaced civilians to return to their homes.
\nSyrian authorities closed Aleppo airport and cancelled all flights on Saturday, according to three military sources cited by the Reuters news agency.
\nThe rebels also captured the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the Idlib governorate, and have taken control of a key highway that links Aleppo to the capital Damascus.
\nThe rebel assault is the most intense fighting seen in northwestern Syria since 2020, when Russia and Turkiye agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict after government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.
\nTurkiye has backed an array of opposition forces and established military presence in parts of northwestern Syria. Meanwhile, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces battling ISIL [ISIS] fighters largely in the east of the country.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Resul Serdar said the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was caught off guard by the swift rebel operation, attributing their rapid advance to Syrian-government allies Hezbollah and Iran being distracted by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
\n\u201cNow the question is: will the regime or Russia or Iran let HTS have full control of the second-largest city in Syria, or are they going to hit back?\u201d asked Serdar.
\nWhile there are still skirmishes in southern Aleppo, the central and northwestern parts of the city are now fully under their control, said Serdar.
\n\u201cThat this happened in just four days is unbelievable.\u201d
\nHTS has become the strongest opposition group in northwestern Syria, controlling much of Idlib province near the Turkish border.
\nIt is considered a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation by Syria, the US and Russia.
\nFormerly known as al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, HTS later changed its name several times and distanced itself from al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Military says dozens of soldiers killed in attacks in northwest and it was regrouping to launch a \u2018counterattack\u2019 Aleppo Syria\u2019s military has announced a \u201ctemporary troop withdrawal\u201d in the northwestern city of Aleppo, where rebel groups launched a surprise offensive on government-held positions for the first time in years. The military said on Saturday that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-446657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n