Sharaa in Aleppo a year after offensive

Interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, one year after a lightning offensive by his Islamist coalition that led to the fall of former leader Bashar al-Assad.

Exactly one year ago, the coalition, which advanced from Idlib in the north, reached the gates of Syria’s second-largest city and took control two days later. On Dec. 8, they seized the capital, Damascus.

“Aleppo is being reborn, and with it, all of Syria is being reborn,” the former jihadist said in front of several hundred people gathered at Aleppo’s famous citadel. Shortly afterward, he appeared atop a tower near an enormous Syrian flag at the site, which was severely damaged during years of war.

Aleppo was one of the first hotbeds of protests against Assad’s regime in 2011, which later escalated into civil war. For four years, the city remained divided between a loyalist sector in the west, where most of the population lived, and rebels in the east. With Russian support, Syrian government forces retook full control of the city at the end of 2016, before the Islamist coalition led by Sharaa seized it eight years later. The coalition’s offensive, launched on Nov. 27, 2024, ended more than half a century of Assad family rule.

Thousands of people celebrated in several Syrian cities on Friday, marking the first anniversary of Operation “Deterrence of Aggression,” launched by the now-dissolved group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, led by Sharaa, then known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. The offensive led to the downfall of the Assad dictatorship 11 days later.