Military map in Syria Changes, armed factions seize more villages until they reach the heart of the country Aleppo.
Three sources said In the Syrian army He told Reuters that the army closed the main roads leading to and from the city of Aleppo after instructions were issued to the forces to follow orders for a “safe withdrawal” from the neighborhoods that were overrun by gunmen from many factions.
The sources stated that this step effectively closed the city after the army issued instructions at checkpoints outside the city to allow only army forces to pass and enter.
The armed factions announced early Saturday that they had arrived Aleppo Citadel The center of the city located in northern Syria.
The armed factions also confirmed that they had reached Saadallah al-Jabri Square, located in the heart of the city of Aleppo.
According to Reuters, citing a military source, the Syrian authorities closed Aleppo Airport and canceled all flights.
Two Syrian military sources told Reuters that Syria had received a promise of additional Russian military aid to help the army prevent armed factions from seizing Aleppo Governorate.
The two sources added that Damascus expects new Russian military equipment to begin arriving Hmeimim base Russian air force near the coastal city of Latakia within 72 hours.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at dawn on Saturday that half of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria was under the control of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions, two days after a surprise attack launched by those factions on areas controlled by government forces in northern and northwestern Syria.
Regarding his opinion regarding these rapid transformations in northern Syria and their causes, the military and strategic expert, Asaad Al-Zoubi, told Sky News Arabia: “It can be said that what is happening is a ‘mutation’, that is, a state of unexpectedness or slight expectation. That these factions will open a wide front. 60 kilometers and 30 kilometers deep, is illogical in wars, even with the presence of legions and the availability of air and ground support.”
Al-Zoubi added: “This progress puts us in front of two possibilities. Either the Syrian army is fragile and has weak combat capabilities, or these armed factions have trained well and were able to achieve a strategic surprise.”
Al-Zoubi attributed the armed factions’ announcement of their operations to a military factor, namely their exposure to continuous attacks by the Syrian forces, in addition to the Syrian government’s mobilization of reinforcements for more than a year, and his talk about the possibility of entering Idlib and controlling it.
The military expert continued his speech, saying: “There is a Russian objection regarding… IdlibBecause it represents a de-escalation zone agreed upon since 2019 between… Iran Russia and Turkey.
Regarding the repercussions of the armed factions’ control of the M5 international road between Aleppo and Damascus, Al-Zoubi said: “There are other roads that the army used previously when it was prevented from using it, such as roads via Khanaser towards the northern Hama countryside or via Raqqa towards Salamiyah or Safira.”
In response to a question regarding the advanced weapons that reports and sources said were used by the armed factions, Al-Zoubi said: “There are no new weapons, but they are the same weapons that the fighters acquired about six years ago, and Turkish weapons are added to them, but they are of the second type, not the first.”
Al-Zoubi explained that Russian aviation He will not support the Syrian forces on a large scale, explaining that the reason for this is because the Syrian government confirmed that it did not want rapprochement with Turkey and preferred Iran, which angered Moscow.
The military expert concluded his speech by saying: “The situation is difficult even if Russian aviation wanted to support the Syrian army, because time does not allow for that. The factions are moving and spreading, and therefore it is difficult to determine their coordinates. This is in addition to the presence of fighters inside the city of Aleppo, which will result in air strikes.” Huge losses among civilians.”
