Syrian rebel fighters breach Aleppo for first time since 2016

Syrian rebels have breached Aleppo for the first time since the country’s government recaptured the city in 2016, according to war monitors and fighters.

Insurgents led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have been advancing towards Aleppo – seizing towns and villages along the way – since launching a shock offensive on Wednesday.

“Relentless attacks” over the past three days in north-western Syria have killed 27 civilians, including eight children, a UN official has said.

Insurgents today blew up two car bombs and clashed with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Projectiles fired by rebels killed four people, including two students, when they landed on accommodation buildings at Aleppo’s city centre university, Syrian state media reported.

It also said transportation to the city had been diverted away from the main highway linking Aleppo to Damascus, in order to avoid clashes.

Witnesses in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, said missiles and exchanges of fire had prompted residents to flee their neighbourhoods.

Insurgents have posted videos online showing themselves using drones in their advance for the first time. It is not clear to what extent they were used on the battlefield.

Videos geolocated by Sky News show armoured vehicles on the fringes of Aleppo and rebels celebrating at its Western entrance.

Another shows a group of more than 10 men running through the streets. At least one of them appears to be armed.

The Syrian government has not commented on the rebels breaching the city limits.

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Syria’s Armed Forces said in a statement on Friday that it had been clashing with insurgents in the countryside surrounding Aleppo and the nearby Idlib, around 35 miles away.

It has vowed to repel the attack and claims rebels have spread false information about their advances.

Insurgents now control approximately 70 locations in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces, according to a Turkish state-run news agency.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo marked a turning point in the war between the Syrian government – backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups – and rebel fighters.

An all-out war had been ongoing for five years, following protests against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule.