A deserted street in Aleppo, northern Syria, as Syrian rebels entered the city on Nov. 30, 2024. (Credit: Bakr Al Kassem/ AFP)
Bou Habib reaffirmed Lebanon's “support for Syria's unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, wishing the Syrian people well, peace, and stability.”
Jihadists and allied rebel factions have seized control of most of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, following a lightning offensive against Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces that has left more than 300 dead, an NGO reported Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based in Britain but with an extensive network of sources in Syria, also reported overnight Russian airstrikes on Aleppo — the first since 2016. The offensive, launched Wednesday by jihadists from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), dominated by al-Qaeda’s former Syrian branch, and their allied Syrian rebels, represents a major blow to the regime.
These are the largest hostilities in years in Syria, where fighting between factions backed by various regional and international powers had largely subsided. With critical military support from Russia, Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah, the Assad regime regained control of much of the country in 2015 and recaptured Aleppo entirely in 2016.
