A major offensive led by Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on the city of Aleppo has been underway since the morning of November 29, 2024. The reactionary militia HTS, which emerged from Al-Qaeda, is one of the numerous militias that have established a reign of terror in the occupied areas of northern Syria in recent years. They fight in collusion with the Turkish state and receive all the necessary support, while also having considerable support from the Saudi arena and the Zionist regime. The HTS, like other fascist militias that are part of the offensive, are often portrayed as “rebels” in the Western media. In reality, kidnappings, violence against women and the oppression of ethnic minorities are the order of the day in the areas they occupy.
The Syrian military said on Saturday it was preparing for a counterattack against Takfiri militants who entered parts of Aleppo city.
In a statement, the Syrian army detailed the ongoing situation in Aleppo and Idlib amid fierce confrontations between Syrian forces and militant groups affiliated with HTS (previously Nusra Front), supported by mercenaries, heavy artillery, and drones.
The military said it was now regrouping, redeploying troops to strengthen its defense lines as it prepared a counterattack.
Takfiri militants of Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo.
The UN said on Saturday that there are around 14,000 displaced people due to the battles in Aleppo.
Former Zionist Military Intelligence officer and scholar Lieutenant Colonel Mordechai Kedar, a specialist in Syrian and Arab affairs, said that he is in contact with “rebels” in Syria and that they have shown interest in normalizing relations with the Zionist regime, “only if they control Syria and Lebanon.”
Kedar has conducted multiple interviews with Zionist media outlets since the terror offensive on northern Syrian cities and towns began. He has stressed the need to help fascist organizations in the country, in order to weaken the Zionists enemies, including the Syrian government and Hezbollah.
Yet, the most stark set of statements he made was during an interview with Channel 2 where he said that he was in contact with reactionary organizations in the country.
In detail, Kedar said that he received “a detailed list” of equipment that the reactionary forces in northern Syria need from the Zionist regime. He said that he passed the list on to senior officials.
Moreover, the former intelligence officer said that Syrian “rebels” are ready for a “peace agreement with ‘Israel,’ only if they control Syria and Lebanon.”
In another interview with a Zionist radio program, Kedar said that the reactionaries Syria should be aided “as long as they act according to Israeli interests.”
The PFLP condemned “in the strongest terms the treacherous attack carried out by [reactionary] militias and allied armed factions on the Syrian city of Aleppo, under the direct supervision of the Zionist entity and in coordination with the American administration and its lackeys, which aims to undermine Syria’s stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to undermine its pivotal role in supporting the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon.” Notably the offensive started right as a ceasefire was declared in Lebanon.
The SDF/YPG “have made it clear that these attacks were initiated by Turkey and are part of a plan to further destabilize Syria and weaken the Autonomous Administration. It is clear that this is not simply an attack by one of the various Islamist groups in Syria, but part of the war that Turkey has been directly waging and planning in the region for years.”
While large parts of the city of Aleppo have already fallen, many civilians have found refuge in the self-governing district of Sheikh Maqsoud. Meanwhile, the self-defense forces in the self-governed districts are preparing for resistance and the population is cleaning their weapons. Shouts of “Biji Berxwedana Sheikh Maqsoud” (Long live the resistance of Sheikh Maqsoud) and “An Serkeftin An Serkeftin” (success and nothing but success) are heard everywhere. Similarly, columns of the YPG and YPJ reached the city on Friday evening and were greeted by applauding people.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) made a press statement in Raqqa regarding the increasingly ongoing attacks in Afrin, Shehba, Aleppo and its surroundings.
The statement read by the Co-Presidency of the Autonomous Administration included the following:
“First of all, we strongly condemn the attack on Syrian territory by the Turkish state and the mercenaries it supports, and we salute the historic resistance of our people in Aleppo and Shehba.
This aggression is a continuation of the plan that the Turkish state failed to achieve through ISIS, with its aim being to invade Syria and realise the borders of ‘Misak-ı Milli’ (The so-called ‘National Pact’ refers to a political declaration made by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire in 1920 during the First World War. The oath defined the territorial borders – including Kurdish settlement areas in present-day Iraq and Syria – and the basic principles for Turkey’s future policy. Today, Turkish nationalists often refer to the ‘National Pact’ to formulate their aspirations for Turkey’s territorial expansion). This aggression aims to occupy and divide Syria and turn it into a centre of international terrorism.
The attacks that started in Aleppo and Hama threaten not only a certain region but the whole of Syria. Therefore, we call on all the components of our peoples in North and East Syria to understand that the aim of this attack is to destroy the hopes of the Syrian peoples to live in freedom and dignity, to target the Democratic Autonomous Administration project and to try to annex new regions to Turkey’s territory.
As Arab, Kurdish, Syriac-Assyrian and Turkmen peoples, we must stand united against this aggression. We invite our young people and young women to unite around the Syrian Democratic Forces.
In this context, we declare general mobilisation and call on our people to be on alert at all times. In addition, all our institutions must be at work on full alert and each of them must be prepared for the challenges posed by this attack by working as a crisis desk.
We also appeal to the international community: stop this aggression! Otherwise, this will be a new form of ISIS terrorism that will lead to major humanitarian disasters, pose a threat to Syria and have serious regional and global consequences.”