Toll rises to 242 in Syria clashes as anti-regime group advances to Aleppo

ALEPPO

More than 240 people, mostly combatants, were killed as intense fighting approached Syria's northern Aleppo city after opposition forces launched a major offensive on government-held areas this week, a monitor said on Nov. 29.

Fighting with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, thousands of Syrian opposition forces pushed on with their advances on government-held areas in the country’s northwest, reaching the outskirts of Syria’s second largest city and wrestling control of several strategic towns and villages along the way.

Anti-regime Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a major offensive on Nov. 27, triggering the fiercest fighting since 2020, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Over the past two days of fighting in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, the opposition groups are said to have taken control of 56 villages and points covering an area of 400 square kilometers in government-held parts of Syria's north.

Armed opposition groups reached within one kilometer (0.62 miles) of the outer neighborhoods of Aleppo.

Syria’s state media said projectiles landed in the student accommodations at Aleppo's university, killing four people, including two students.

The anti-regime forces also seized heavy weapons, depots and military vehicles belonging to the Assad regime in the areas they took control of. Many regime soldiers were killed in the clashes and the armed groups captured dozens of soldiers.

Around 10,000 civilians fleeing the clashes have taken refuge in rural Idlib, media reported.

The Kremlin on Nov. 29 said it hoped its ally Syria will quickly "restore order" in Aleppo.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

At a press conference earlier this week, HTS’ Mohamed Bashir said, "This operation aims to repel the sources of fire of the criminal enemy from the frontlines."

Those in charge of the offensive said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in southern Idlib and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army, which was building up troops near the front lines against anti-regime forces.