While weapons were temporarily laid down in southern Lebanon, rebel forces, supported by Turkey, attacked Aleppo, held by the army of Bashar al-Assad, thus reigniting the war in this Middle Eastern country.
In Syria, fierce fighting took place this Friday in the western district of Aleppo, where the national army lost the center of the key district of New Aleppo which Hezbollah and Iranian militias left abandoned.
The offensive by rebel forces against the Syrian government (SSG) also took control of the urban areas of Khalsa, Al-Rashidin and Khan Tuman, where, according to the Liveuamap monitoring site, the army under the command of President Bashar al- Assad abandoned four old Soviet-made T55 tanks.
Russian and Syrian air forces responded this Friday morning by bombing the province of Idlib, the de facto capital of the SSG.
A surprise attack on Thursday in Aleppo by SSG forces broke a five-year-old ceasefire, reigniting Syria’s war just hours after a ceasefire took effect in Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah having agreed to lay down their arms on Wednesday.
According to Liveuamap, fighting is also underway in the demilitarized zone of northern Syria, on the border with Turkey.
Turkish-backed anti-al-Assad forces managed to take control of part of the M5, the main road junction between Aleppo and the capital Damascus, according to official sources.
What are the forces on the ground?
Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces fear the new offensive could allow rebels to take full control of the city of Aleppo, which would be a blow to Moscow and Tehran, the latter still reeling from recent losses suffered by its ally, Hezbollah, in South Lebanon.
The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Kioumar Pourashemi, is believed to have been killed in the first hours of the skirmish in Aleppo, while Russian airstrikes are particularly fierce in the urban area of Khan Al-Asal, where there is a important fuel supply base for the Syrian army.
According to Iranian sources, Al-Assad’s government deployed the Russian-trained 25th Special Forces Division, formerly known as the Tiger Forces, to the historic city and capital of Syria’s most populous governorate.
The SSG is supported by the Islamist group Tahrir al-Sham, accused of extremist beliefs and linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian franchise of Al-Qaeda which was operational until 2019.
Other military units deployed by the presidential forces include the Palestinian Jerusalem Brigade and the 4th Syrian Division, armed with modern Russian-made T-90 tanks and improved versions of the T-72.
According to unconfirmed reports, 200 soldiers lost their lives. Idlib forces said the victims included Russian members of a drone unit.
Syria is home to two strategic military outposts for Moscow: the Russian navy port in the eastern Mediterranean at Tartus and an airport for warplanes at Khmeimim.
