Kurdish Forces Take Over Aleppo Airport, Following Syrian Army Withdrawal.. 30/11/2024 – 17:00
News updates collated by thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-EWK Telegram t.me/thefreeonline.
In a surprise move on 3oth November a large force of Kurdish SDF from Rojava crossed SAA territory and entered Aleppo in support of Syrian State forces and to defend the Kurdish neigbourhoods in Aleppo, as the Jihadi HTS and other Turkish funded forces reach the city center.
The daring move by the autonomous SDF Rojava Multi-Ethnic coalition of militias could even lead to military reconciliation with Damascus and an end to defense reliance on the small and threatened US forces. The move is also surprising because Turkey and its NATO partner the US sponsor the Islamic Idlib forces now attacking Aleppo, resisted by the SDF which is also partly sponsored by the US to fight ISIS.
Video of Rojava Rescue Convoy
A large force of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached on November 30 the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, joining the remaining forces of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) as militants led by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Aleppo Falls: Syrian Army ‘Retreats’ For Counteroffensive … YouTube · Times Of India
The jihadi extremists stormed the western parts of the city and managed to reach its center late on November 29, just two days after launching a large-scale offensive against the SAA.Militants led by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) widened their control within the northern Syrian city of Aleppo late on November 29, a few hours after storming it as a part of a large-scale offensive against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), codenamed Operation Deterrence of Aggression.
screenshot– Rojava Rescue Convoy
Video evidence indicate that the militants have reached Citadel of Aleppo in the heart of the city after capturing many districts in the west, including al-Hamidiyah, al-Kallaseh, al-Firdaws, al-Hamidiyah, and Saif al-Dawlah, in addition to the University of Aleppo.
The Syrian_Democratic_Forces, 100,000 strong SDF revolutionary coalition, (which ironically is backed by the United States) has rushed thousands of heavily armed fighters from its areas of control in the eastern Aleppo governorate, through the government-held territory of Deir Haif, to Aleppo International Airport then to the Kurdish-held district of Sheikh Maqsoud in the city and to the town of Tel Rifaat in the northern countryside of the governorate.
Tel Rifaat is a small enclave right near the Turkish Invasion HQ in Azaz. It is controlled precariously under shelling by the YPG/SDF and has various refugees camps like Shahba/Shebha still holding tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees from NATO/ Turkey’s invasion and ethnic cleansing of nearby Afrin, abandoned by the international West. Erdogan has repeatedly boasted he will ‘conquer’ Tel Rifaat with his Islamic mercenaries.. Tonight the SDF has arrived in force to defend the refugees.(see also.. NATO okays Turkish genocide of 170K trapped Afrin refugees in Tell Rifaat/Shebha enclave– July 2022)
Thousands of people joined a demonstration in Tel Rifaat town of the Shehba Canton on Sunday 10th Nov 2019 in protest at the Turkish state’s invasion and genocidal practices in northern Syria. 40% of the population of Efrin (Afrin) now survive in a semi no-man’s land, defended by the multi-ethnic SDF of AANES, after expulsion by the Turkish invasion, plantation and Turkification of their homes and properties
It is unclear yet if the force arrived to help the SAA launch a counter-attack, or to evacuate and protect Kurdish refugees and remaining Kurdish fighters from the city and its northern countryside.
The bold move was clearly coordinated with the Syrian government. It remains unclear if the U.S.-led coalition played any role in the agreement
While HTS and its allies did not advance much inside Aleppo on 28th Nov the ex Al Qaeda terrorists and others from the Turkish proxies Syrian National Army Jihadi groups (SNA) made many gains in the northern Aleppo countryside in the morning, capturing the towns of Tadef, Toman, Abu Taltal, al-Shumawiya, Anadan, Hareitan, Kafr Hamra, and Hayyan.
The assault in the northern Aleppo countryside was launched by HTS from the Greater Idlib enclave, as well as from SNA mercenaries settled in Turkish invaded and occupied areas in northern Aleppo, (Afrin and Al Bab).
At least 155 militants of HTS and 28 other Turkey-backed factions and some 79 Syrian troops had been killed since the start of the offensive in Aleppo and neighboring Idlib on November 27to 29th, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group.
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence SOUTHFRONT.PRESS– map now out of date!
Yesterday the situation around Aleppo was as follows:
- most SAA units had fled, either out of cowardice or bribery (remember Iraq, Libya?).
- At least a third of the civilian population had also fled.
- HTS was in a kind of shambles and didn’t know what to do with the city,
- The remaining forces loyal to Assad were also freaking out, just like HTS.
Today: most of the city has already fallen, nine years after the Damascus government expelled the rebels with huge destruction and loss of life– an estimated 31,000 people were killed in Aleppo during the conflict.[28]
Aleppo, 2,000,000 population, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it may have been inhabited since the sixth millennium BC
https://hawarnews.com/en/latest-news
22.39 30th Nov HPC arrests HTS mercenaries who tried to infiltrate Sheikh Maqsoud
13.36 3oth Nov… SDF foil Turkish mercenaries’ attack in Al-Bab..(which implies that they now control Al Bab! Erdogan will have a fit!
11.o5 3oth Nov.. HTS Mercenaries now control most of Aleppo neighborhoods in handover scenario
DAA receives thousands of returnees from Aleppo, following Aleppo clashes.. The co-chair of the Drivers Union, Waddah Al-Jarijeb, said earlier: “The Drivers Union sent 60 buses from Raqqa, Al-Sahl and Al-Mansoura in the western countryside of Raqqa to Aleppo to transport students and families from fleeing the city of Aleppo to Raqqa.”
18:10 29th Nov Mercenaries enter neighborhoods in Aleppo
screenshot.. a Kurdish SDF convoy to the rescue
Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhood braces for clashes with HTS Islamists
20.07 30th Nov ..HPC thwarts attack by mercenaries in Afrin, Shahba Cantons..Child wounded in Turkish shelling on Afrin, Shahba canton(Tel Rifaat)
- Syrian army admits defeat in parts of Aleppo, plans counterattack
- Hundreds dead as clashes between rebels, Syrian army intensify
- Kurds say ready to welcome people fleeing conflict in NW Syria
Rudaw.net
Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhood braces for clashes with HTS Islamists
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish-majority neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Syria’s Aleppo is bracing for a possible attack by rebels who have gained significant territory in a surprise offensive against the Syrian army.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG/SDF), which controls the neighborhood, published a video early Saturday morning that it said shows “civilians… preparing to defend their neighborhood in the event of an attack.”
The footage, in which the faces of people have been blurred, shows men and women, some dressed in civilian clothes, readying rifles and setting up makeshift checkpoints in the streets.
“We love peace, democracy and solution,” an unidentified man says in the video, adding that the young and the old are ready to defend their neighborhood.
“SDF controls two towns near Aleppo”, says SOHR.… ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have declared control over two Shiite town in the outskirts of Aleppo.The SDF takeover of Nublus (includes Internatiomal Airport) and Zahra towns comes at a time when majority of Aleppo city has fallen into the hands of Syrian Opposition Forces, chief among them Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.
Sheikh Maqsood has been attacked by jihadist fighters numerous times during the country’s civil war. The latest possible threat has come from rebel forces led by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) who launched a surprise offensive launched on Wednesday, seizing territory from government troops for the first time in years.
They entered the city of Aleppo on Friday afternoon after taking several villages in the surrounding countryside. The forces have reached the edge of Ashrafiyeh, another Kurdish-majority neighborhood that is held by the YPG and borders Sheikh Maqsoud, according to pro-HTS media.
In 2016, Amnesty International said that Islamist rebel attacks on the neighbourhood that year constituted war crimes. More than 83 civilians were killed in the attacks.
Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a United States-backed force spearheaded by the YPG, said on Friday that they are closely following the developments and that their arch-enemy Turkey is behind the offensive.
“The developments in northwestern Syria are highly sensitive. We are closely monitoring the developments with utmost attention. Regardless of the circumstances, our unwavering national and moral priority remains the defense of our people and our regions. Accordingly, we will intervene if necessary to protect them,” he said in a post on X.
Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told Rudaw on Friday that if the rebels do attack the YPG in Sheikh Maqsood, “there will be violent clashes.” However, he believes HTS does not want a confrontation with Kurdish forces.
Other Kurdish areas in Aleppo are Tal Rifaat to the northwest and Shahba to the north. Both are home to hundreds of thousands of Kurds displaced from other parts of the country, most of whom fled attacks by Turkey and its Syrian proxies.
Both areas are under the control of the YPG and there are also regime forces. Local sources told Rudaw on Saturday that the Syrian army has begun withdrawing from Shahba.
Rudaw English asked a senior Rojava official about the possibility of a Turkish attack on Tal Rifaat.
“Everything is possible now. Tal Rifaat is under threat,” said the official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran and Russia, staunch supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have expressed their support for their ally. Moscow said its airstrikes killed over 200 rebels in 24 hours.
Both Iran and Russia, however, are in very different positions from the last time they helped Assad push the Islamist extremists out of Aleppo in 2016.
Russia is at war in Ukraine and Iran’s network of proxies, including Lebanese Hezbollah, has been weakened by Israel.
Turkey, which backs various Syrian rebel groups, has threatened in the past to carry out an offensive to remove Kurdish fighters from Tal Rifaat. It said it is closely following the situation and urged the warring parties not to cause “larger instabilities.”
Ankara also accused Kurdish forces in Tal Rifaat and nearby Manbij of “trying to take advantage of the current state of instability.”
As of Saturday, the clashes in Aleppo have claimed the lives of 277 people, including 24 civilians, according to SOHR.
Kurdish Forces Take Over Aleppo Airport, Following Syrian Army Withdrawal.. 30/11/2024 – 17:00
ERBIL — The Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG/SDF) forces in Syrian Kurdistan have reportedly entered Aleppo airport, the eastern Aleppo suburbs of Nablus and Zahra, and neighborhoods around Aleppo following the withdrawal of the Syrian national army.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that Kurdish forces took control of the checkpoints between al-Shahba and Aleppo, as well as the checkpoints in the Ashrafiya neighborhood, after the withdrawal of Syrian forces and the Fourth Division of its army.
Due to the violence in the area, families have been displaced from Tel Rifaat and northern Aleppo to the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood, according to BasNews sources in Aleppo.
Kurdish forces also advanced toward the towns of Tal Hafar, Tal Aran, Tal Hasel, and other villages in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, after Syrian forces withdrew toward Maskana in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
ASSORTED TURKISH PAID JIHADIS ARRIVE, HOPING TO ATTACK TAL RIFAAT, IN 2022
Furthermore, Russian troops withdrew from the Tel Rafaat military checkpoint and Menkh military airport on Thursday, coinciding with the arrival of large forces of armed groups calling themselves the Syrian opposition, SNA, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, intent on looting killing and raping the Kurdish Afrin refugees in El Shahba camp, PHOTO BELOW.
Turkey has mobilised its proxy SNA terrorists to take over the Afrin Kurdish refugees still camped in El Shahba/Tel Rifaat since Erdogan invaded, ethnically cleansed and settled the jihadists in their Afrin home
Meanwhile, the Syrian Defense Ministry has acknowledged its defeat in Aleppo and said its forces have withdrawn from the city to reorganize and counterattack what they called the “terrorist” groups.
“A large number of terrorists in Aleppo and several fronts of clashes have led our armed forces to carry out a re-establishment operation,” the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It added that the purpose of the reorganization is to strengthen the lines of defense, protect the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack.
Furthermore, armed groups of the so-called opposition front reached the outskirts of the town of Maarat al-Numan in northwestern Syria, 33 km south of Idlib, and took control of the entire town.
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The Free 