Idlib, Nov. 29, (dpa/GNA) – Rebel fighters continued their advances for the third day on Friday towards Syrian government force posts and areas in the north-western part of the country, forcing 14,000 people to leave their homes, activists and the UN said.
According to rebel sources and activists, violent clashes are currently taking place between opposition rebels and forces loyal to the Syrian government near the Scientific Research Centre located on the western outskirts of the city of Aleppo.
Activists in Idlib told dpa the fighting was also very intense on Friday around the town of Saraqeb in the eastern countryside of Idlib.
“This is a key town because if they [the rebels] control it, they can control the Aleppo-Damascus highway,” activists said.
Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least four students were killed and two others were wounded when rebels shelled a place housing university students in Aleppo city, a claim denied by rebel forces.
Students in Aleppo University were asked to leave the campus, and people inside the city of Aleppo were confined to their homes out of fear that rebel fighters would shell Aleppo city.
According to Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, several neighbourhoods close to the areas of clashes, such as New Aleppo, al-Furqan, al-Hamdaniyeh witnessed a massive exodus as shells fell on their outskirts.
One resident of New Aleppo told dpa people were very scared. “I am packing my things and family and leaving towards Damascus,” he said, requesting anonymity.
A military commander of a pro-Syrian militia loyal to the government in the city of Aleppo, Abu Mahmoud Omar, told dpa, “The coming hours will be decisive for the battles after the arrival of large military reinforcements from the Syrian army and allied forces to Aleppo.”
Rebels said that their advancement came amid a complete collapse of the Syrian government forces, the seizure of dozens of tanks and military vehicles, as well as the killing and capturing of dozens of government forces.”
Rebel sources and activists in Idlib said their forces entered the al-Rashideen neighbourhood and the Scientific Research Centre, located at the western and southern entrances to the city of Aleppo.
The Syrian army, backed by their Russian allies, has retaliated by carrying out more than 100 heavy airstrikes on rebel positions in Idlib and the Aleppo area since Wednesday morning.
The observatory said the death toll has risen 255, among them some 24 civilians, within 48 hours.
Opposition factions announced the offensive on Wednesday under the moniker “Deterrence of Aggression,” and claimed it was a response to recent artillery shelling from government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on civilian targets.
The situation is deteriorating, particularly affecting the civilian population, warned David Carden, deputy regional UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Syria.
More than 14,000 people have now been displaced over the past three days, Carden said.
“I am alarmed by the deteriorating situation in north-west Syria and the impacts on the lives of civilians,” he told dpa, adding, “We are getting reports of children with multiple shrapnel wounds from the attacks.”
This is the heaviest fighting in years between Islamist rebels and Syrian government troops in north-western Syria.
This is considered the largest attack by rebel fighters on Aleppo since 2016 when they were ousted from the eastern areas of the city. The 2016 battle for Aleppo was considered one of the worst in the civil war in Syria, which has been going on since 2011.
President al-Assad, with the help of his allies Russia and Iran, has managed to regain control of two-thirds of the country again from rebels in the past years.
Idlib is the last rebel stronghold in war-torn Syria.
GNA