Syria: 255 killed in ongoing clashes

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and allied opposition factions announced their entry into Aleppo and control of several locations there. Clashes between HTS and the Syrian regime forces have continued in several areas since Wednesday following a surprise attack by opposition factions on areas controlled by the regime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recorded the deaths of 255 military and civilian personnel since dawn last Wednesday.

The Observatory reported: “Clashes erupted between regime forces on the one hand and HTS and their factions on the other hand as part of the ‘Blocking Aggression’ Operation, where the latter managed to take control over five neighbourhoods in Aleppo City, which are Al-Hamdaniya, Aleppo and Jadeeda, after a double operation using two car bombs.”

The organisation added: “Currently, violent clashes are taking place between the attacking forces and the regime forces and their supporting militias following a large number of HTS members and factions advancing towards the city. This comes after hours of violent battles around Aleppo, during which the attacking forces took control of the Scientific Research Centre.”

The Observatory reported that the number of causalities is distributed as follows: “135 HTS members, 24 members of the National Army factions, 100 members of regime forces and their proxy militias, 79 members of regime forces- including four officers with different ranks, and 21 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militiamen. 24 civilians, including a child, killed in the bombardment, 19 civilians, including four children and three women, killed in Russian airstrikes, and four university students were killed in rocket fire by Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham on the university student dormitory in Aleppo city.”

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According to the Observatory, Russian warplanes and regime aircraft have carried out intensive airstrikes since the morning hours, targeting many cities, towns and villages. The aircraft carried out 23 airstrikes targeting the city of Aleppo and the cities, towns and villages of Qmenas, Binnish, Jawbas, Dadikh and Kafr Aweed in the Idlib countryside, resulting in the death of one citizen and the injuries of two others with varying degrees of injury between the cities of Idlib and Binnish.

The regime army announced in a statement on Friday that it is continuing to “confront” the attack and: “Regain control of some areas that witnessed violations during the past hours.”

The battles have displaced more than 14,000 people, nearly half of whom are children, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The fighting following the attack is the most violent witnessed in years in Syria, which has been experiencing conflict since 2011 following a popular revolution against the regime. So far, this has claimed the lives of more than half a million people, displaced millions and destroyed the country’s infrastructure and economy.

HTS, along with less powerful opposition factions, controls about half of Idlib and its surroundings and adjacent areas in the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama.

A ceasefire has been in effect in Idlib and its surroundings since 6 March, 2020, announced by Moscow, which supports the regime, and Ankara, which supports the opposition factions. It followed a large-scale attack launched by regime forces with Russian support over three months.

Russia intervened in favour of the Syrian regime forces in 2015 and was able to turn the situation in favour of its ally after it lost most of the country.

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