What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria’s 13-year war and why it matters

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria’s 13-year war and why it matters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

on Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities and an ancient business hub. The push is among the rebels’ strongest in years in a war whose destabilizing effects have rippled far beyond the country’s borders.

It was the first opposition ******* on Aleppo since 2016, when a brutal air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Syrian President Bashar Assad retake the northwestern city. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other groups has allowed Assad to remain in power, within the 70% of Syria under his control.

The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when U.S.-backed ******* is fighting ****** in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups.

Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox

See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.

Robert Ford, the last-serving U.S. ambassador to Syria, pointed to months of ******** strikes on Syrian and Hezbollah targets in the area, and to *******’s ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon this week, as factors providing Syria’s rebels with the opportunity to advance.

Here’s a look at some of the key aspects of the new fighting:

Why does the fighting at Aleppo matter?

Assad has been at war with opposition forces seeking his overthrow for 13 years, a conflict that’s ******* an estimated half-million people. Some 6.8 million Syrians have fled the country, a ******** flow that helped change the political map in Europe by fueling anti-immigrant far-right movements.

The roughly 30% of the country not under Assad is controlled by a range of opposition forces and foreign troops. The U.S. has about 900 troops in northeast Syria, far from Aleppo, to guard against a resurgence by the Islamic State. Both the U.S. and ******* conduct occasional strikes in Syria against government forces and Iran-allied militias. Turkey has forces in Syria as well, and has influence with the broad alliance of opposition forces storming Aleppo.

Coming after years with few sizeable changes in territory between Syria’s warring parties, the fighting “has the potential to be really quite, quite consequential and potentially game-changing,” if Syrian government forces prove unable to hold their ground, said Charles Lister, a longtime Syria analyst with the U.S.-based Middle East Institute. Risks include if Islamic State fighters see it as an opening, Lister said.

Ford said the fighting in Aleppo would become more broadly destabilizing if it drew Russia and Turkey — each with its own interests to protect in Syria — into direct heavy fighting against each other.

What do we know about the group leading the offensive on Aleppo?

The U.S. and U.N. have long designated the opposition force leading the ******* at Aleppo —

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

— as a ********** organization.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani emerged as the leader of al-Qaida’s Syria branch in 2011, in the first months of Syria’s war. It was an unwelcome intervention to many in Syria’s opposition, who hoped to keep the ****** against Assad’s brutal rule untainted by violent extremism.

Golani and his group early on claimed responsibility for deadly bombings, pledged to ******* Western forces, confiscated property from religious minorities and sent religious police to enforce modest dress by women.

Golani and HTS have sought to remake themselves in recent years, focusing on promoting civilian government in their territory as well as military action,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

His group broke ties with al-Qaida in 2016. Golani cracked down on some extremist groups in his territory, and increasingly portrays himself as a protector of other religions. That includes last year allowing the first ********** Mass in the city of Idlib in years.

By 2018, the Trump administration acknowledged it was no longer directly targeting Golani, Zelin said. But HTS has allowed some wanted armed groups to continue to operate on its territory, and shot at U.S. special forces at least as recently as 2022, he said.

What’s the history of Aleppo in the war?

At the crossroads of trade routes and empires for thousands of years, Aleppo is one of the centers of commerce and culture in the Middle East.

Aleppo was home to 2.3 million people before the war. Rebels seized the east side of the city in 2012, and it became the proudest symbol of the advance of armed opposition factions.

In 2016, government forces backed by Russian airstrikes ***** siege to the city. Russian shells, missiles and crude barrel ****** — fuel canisters or other containers loaded with explosives and metal — methodically leveled neighborhoods. Starving and under siege, rebels surrendered Aleppo that year.

The Russian military’s entry was the turning point in the war, allowing Assad to stay on in the territory he held.

This year,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

have hit Hezbollah weapons depots and Syrian forces, among other targets, according to an independent monitoring group. ******* rarely acknowledges strikes at Aleppo and other government-held areas of Syria.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#sudden #rebel #gains #Syrias #13year #war #matters

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up