Netanyahu holds assessment on Syria as jihadists enter Aleppo in lightning assault

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a special security discussion Friday evening with the heads of the defense establishment to discuss new internal fighting in Syria and the ceasefire in Lebanon that halted more than 13 months of fighting with Hezbollah.

Syrian rebel jihadists opposed to President Bashar Assad launched a surprise offensive through government-held towns in recent days. The opposition fighters, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northern province of Aleppo.

On Friday they said they’d reached the center of the city of Aleppo itself, as they pressed their lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed government. Assad and his allies Russia, Iran and regional Shi’ite militias had retaken all of Aleppo city in late 2016, with insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege in a battle that turned the tide against the opposition.

Channel 12 news reported that Jerusalem was concerned about the potential spillover ramifications of chaotic developments in Syria, as well as the possibility of unspecified Syrian strategic weapons falling into the wrong hands.

An unnamed Israeli official told Ynet: “This is something we need to closely monitor and see how it develops.”

They added, “It doesn’t necessarily affect us, especially not in the short term, but any erosion of stability in a neighboring country could also impact us. It seems here that there are also opportunities for change.”

The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 255 people killed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the dead have been combatants, but the toll also includes 24 civilians, most killed in Russian air strikes.

SOHR, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria and is of unclear funding, has been accused in the past of inflating regime losses.

Rebel commander in the Jaish al-Izza rebel brigade Mustafa Abdul Jaber said the speedy advance was due to insufficient Iran-backed manpower in the broader province. Iran’s allies in the region have suffered a series of blows at the hands of Israel as the Gaza war expanded to the Middle East.

Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkey had given a green light to the offensive. But Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said Turkey sought to avoid greater instability in the region and had warned that recent attacks undermined de-escalation agreements.

The attack was the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.

Syrian state television denied rebels had reached Aleppo and said Russia was providing Syria’s military with air support.

The Syrian military said it continued to confront the attack, saying in a statement it had inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.

David Carden, UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, said: “We’re deeply alarmed by the situation unfolding in northwest Syria.”

“Relentless attacks over the past three days have claimed the lives of at least 27 civilians, including children as young as eight years old,” he told Reuters. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not targets and must be protected under International Humanitarian Law.”

Syrian state news agency SANA said four civilians including two students were killed on Friday in Aleppo by insurgent shelling of university student dormitories. It was not clear if they were among the 27 dead reported by the UN official.

Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed the area near the border with Turkey on Thursday to try to push back the insurgent offensive.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “more than 14,000 people –- nearly half are children — have been displaced” by the violence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged “continued support for the government, nation and army of Syria,” in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh, according to a statement.

The Idlib area has been subject to a Turkish- and Russian-brokered truce since 2020. The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated but had largely held.

An AFP correspondent in the rebel enclave saw jihadists advancing in tanks as intense exchanges of fire took place in an area just seven kilometers (a little over four miles) from Aleppo. AFP images showed abandoned army tanks and other military vehicles.

The correspondent said the jihadists and their Turkey-backed allies took orders from a joint operations command.

Analyst Nick Heras, of the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said the fighters were “trying to preempt the possibility of a Syrian military campaign in the region of Aleppo.” According to Heras, the Syrian government and its key backer Russia had been preparing for such a campaign.

Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, turning the tide of the civil war that broke out four years earlier in favor of the government, whose forces at the time had lost control of most of the country.

Other interests are also at stake.

As well as Russia, Syrian President Assad has been propped up by Iran and allied groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Iran-backed militias have a heavy presence in the Aleppo region after providing crucial ground support to the army in its recapture of rebel-held areas of the city in 2016.

Heras said anti-government forces are “in a better position to take and seize villages than Russian-backed Syrian government forces, while the Iranians are focused on Lebanon.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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