Syrian Rebels Launch Surprise Attack on Assad’s Regime

Photo Credit: Ali Syria/Flash90

Damaged homes and stores in the village of al-Nayrab, after rebels seized the village from regime forces, February 25, 2020.

Syrian rebel forces launched a surprise attack on the Assad regime army in the western Aleppo region early Wednesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. It is believed that the rebels decided to take advantage of the collapse of the Hezbollah terrorist organization which used to fight alongside the regime forces as Iran’s proxy.

According to the report, 60 rebel faction activists and 37 Syrian army soldiers have been killed since Wednesday morning. It was also reported that five Assad regime soldiers were captured by the rebels, who control areas in northwestern Syria. The rebels have so far taken control of 17 villages and army bases and have reached about 10 km west of the city of Aleppo, the second largest in Syria.

The opposition branded their new offensive “Blocking Aggression.” Their announcement, made via the rebels’ Telegram channel, framed the operation as a retaliatory move against recent artillery attacks attributed to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Wednesday’s surprise attack marked the most significant escalation between Syrian rebels and the Assad regime since March 2020, when a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey brought a tenuous halt to hostilities in the region.

Turkish forces and allied factions on Wednesday unleashed a barrage of heavy artillery on several villages in the Manbij countryside, east of Aleppo, targeting areas under the control of the Manbij Military Council. The affected villages included Al-Tukhar, Al-Jat, Arab Hassan, Jabal Sayad, and Om Juloud. Among the casualties was a 17-year-old, who sustained injuries and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011 during the wave of uprisings at the urging of President Barack Obama known as the Arab Spring. The Assad regime violently suppressed the pro-democracy movement against President Bashar al-Assad, who had inherited his late father’s throne in 2000.

The unrest quickly spiraled into a full-scale conflict, with the formation of the Free Syrian Army as a rebel force to challenge government troops. The war soon drew in regional powers and global actors, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States, and Russia, transforming the conflict into what many analysts termed a “proxy war.” The chaos also allowed ISIS to establish a stronghold in Syria, though the group later suffered significant defeats.