Thousands of Syrian insurgents entered Aleppo, spreading across the city with minimal resistance from government forces. They seized key landmarks such as the old citadel and tore down posters of President Assad. The government acknowledged the insurgents' advance and is preparing for a counterattack.
Thousands of Syria n insurgents fanned out inside Aleppo in vehicles with improvised armor and pickups, deploying to landmarks such as the old citadel on Saturday, a day after they entered Syria ’s largest city facing little resistance from government troops, according to residents and fighters.
The surprise takeover is a huge embarrassment for Assad, who managed to regain total control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which his forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.
A witness in Aleppo said government troops remained in the city’s airport and at a military academy but most of the forces have already filed out of the city from the south. Syrian Kurdish forces remained in two neighborhoods. “As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself this is impossible! How did this happen?” He said he strolled through the city at night, visiting the citadel, where the insurgents raised their flags, a major square and the university of Aleppo, as well as the last spot he was in before he was forced to leave for the countryside.
Twenty fighters were killed in the airstrikes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire. Some fled the fighting.
Syria Aleppo Insurgents Government Counterattack Assad
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