Rebels take over half of Aleppo, Russia urgently bombs to prevent it, army blockades the entire city

The situation in Aleppo city, the capital of the province of the same name in northwestern Syria, suddenly heated up when jihadist gunmen and their allies took control of half of this area.

A rebel led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stands at the back of a vehicle in al-Rashideen, Aleppo province, Syria, November 29. (Source: Reuters)

According to AFP news agency, on the morning of November 30, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) Rami Abdul Rahman said: "Half of Aleppo city is now under the control of (rebel group) Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies."

He added that "there was no fighting, not a single shot was fired as government forces withdrew".

Meanwhile, Reuters news agency quoted three military sources as saying that the Syrian army had been ordered to "safely withdraw" from the main areas of the city where rebel forces had entered.

According to sources, the Syrian government has closed Aleppo airport and blocked all roads leading to the city, as rebels claim to have entered the center of the provincial capital of the same name.

Russia, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's key allies, has promised to provide more military aid to Damascus to contain rebels and new equipment will begin arriving in the next 72 hours, sources said.

On the Russian side, on November 29, the Syrian Reconciliation Center under the European country's Ministry of Defense said that the country's air force had dropped the above-mentioned rebels to repel the attack on Aleppo.

The announcement said: "The Russian Air Force is carrying out bomb and missile strikes on equipment and personnel of illegal armed groups, checkpoints, warehouses and artillery positions of terrorists." Accordingly, 200 militants have been "destroyed" in the past 24 hours.

This is one of the bloodiest clashes since March 2020, after a ceasefire agreement was reached to end years of fighting that forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes.

Rebels have attacked 12 government-held towns and villages in Aleppo since November 27, nearly a decade after they were driven out of the city, and shelled a university dormitory, killing four people, including two students, Syria's SANA news agency reported.

Commander Mustafa Abdul Jaber of the Jaish al-Izza rebel brigade said this week's lightning advance was facilitated by the absence of Iranian-backed forces in Aleppo province.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/giao-tranh-dam-mau-nhat-trong-nhieu-nam-o-syria-phien-quan-chiem-nua-aleppo-nga-khan-cap-nem-bom-can-pha-quan-doi-phong-toa-toan-thanh-295612.html