Russian jets bomb Aleppo after rebels’ surprise attack on Syrian city

Russian and Syrian jets are reported to be bombing rebel fighters who launched a surprise attack in the city of Aleppo.
Government forces were caught off guard when the rebels, who oppose the regime of Bashar Al Assad, entered Syria’s second largest city on Friday.
The offensive comes at a time when Syria’s three main backers, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, have plenty of trouble of their own.
Russian air strikes targeting rebel supply lines on the edge of Aleppo have been reported by the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper.
It posted a video of a missile landing on a gathering of fighters and vehicles, in a street lined with trees and buildings.
Twenty fighters were killed in the airstrikes that targeted rebel reinforcements, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s unresolved civil war.
Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire, and some were fleeing the fighting.
In social media posts, the insurgents were pictured outside of Aleppo citadel, the medieval palace in the old city centre.
State media reported that a number of “terrorists” have infiltrated parts of the city.
A state TV morning show reported that reinforcements and Russia’s assistance will repel the “terrorist groups,” blaming Turkey for supporting the insurgents’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
Russia’s state news agency reported that Russian warplanes targeted and killed 200 militants who launched the offensive in the northwest on Friday. It provided no further details.
Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since they were ousted from eastern neighbourhoods in 2016.
The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters after 2011 protests against President Bashar Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.
Russia and Iran and its allied groups helped Syrian government forces reclaim control of the city that year after a gruelling military campaign and a siege that lasted for weeks.
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