CNN’s Ben Wedeman explains that backers of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have been distracted by other conflicts, allowing Syrian rebels an opportunity to target a weakened Syrian regime.

Aleppo

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

Middle East Conflict

Syrian rebel forces have reportedly entered the city of Aleppo, marking a significant change in the ongoing conflict in the region. According to reports, rebels have moved into the western countryside of Aleppo, advancing into the new Aleppo and Hamdaniya neighborhoods on the city's western side. This development follows a coordinated offensive by a coalition of rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group previously associated with al-Qaeda.

The offensive, which was launched recently, has apparently led to the rebels taking control of 63 villages to the west of Aleppo. This marks the first major escalation in Syria in nearly seven years. The advance comes after a long period of stalemate since a ceasefire agreement in March 2020, brokered by Russia and Turkey for northern Syria. 

This shift occurs as some backers of the Syrian government have been diverted by other conflicts. Hezbollah, a major supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has redirected its focus towards Israel since October. Similarly, Iran and Russia, once key allies, have been preoccupied with other international engagements. This situation may have opened a window of opportunity for rebel groups to make strategic advances against the regime.



Syrian opposition forces say they have entered Aleppo

Ben, this is the first major escalation in Syria in around seven years. Rebels claiming to have taken control of Aleppo's western countryside. What is the latest? Yes, what we're hearing from Aleppo is they've now entered the new Aleppo neighborhood as well as the Hamdaniya neighborhood on the western side of the city. This comes after they launched this sort of coalition of rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir which is a rebel group that at one point was affiliated with al-Qaeda. But they launched this lightning offensive on Wednesday, and since then they've taken, according to them, 63 villages to the west of Aleppo, which of course is Syria's second largest city. And they say they have now entered the western edge of the city. This is an offensive that comes after keeping in mind, of course, that the rebels lost control of most of Aleppo back in 2016. And there's been basically a stalemate since March of 2020 when Russia and Turkey worked out a ceasefire agreement for the northern part of Syria. Now there have been clashes among the rebel groups themselves, but it appears that they've put their differences behind, perhaps to exploit the fact that, for instance, Hezbollah, which was a major backer of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, essentially pulled out of Syria starting in October of last year when they focused their fire on Israel. And of course other backers of the Syrian regime, for instance Iran, has been distracted by its involvement in hostile activities with Israel, and Russia has been distracted by its war in Ukraine. And therefore perhaps these rebel groups are seeing this as a golden opportunity to target a weakened Syrian regime, a regime that doesn't have the kind of backing that it enjoyed going back to, for instance, 2015 when the Russians became directly involved in bolstering the regime of Bashar al-Assad. So certainly this does represent a dramatic change on the ground in an area where the Syrian regime was starting to feel fairly confident. They've been trying to rebuild parts of old Aleppo that were severely damaged in the civil war that's been going on there since 2012. But it does appear that the regime has been taken by surprise by this rebel offensive.

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Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

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