After capturing the central and northwestern parts of Aleppo, Syria’s largest northern city, armed jihadist insurgents led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are reportedly seeking to take the west-central city of Hama next.

Regional media has cited HTS sources to say they’ve “begun marching towards Hama, successfully capturing six towns and villages in the countryside, including Morek, which lies along an important highway connecting central Syria to the north.” The Syrian government has denied that many of these towns or villages were captured, amid conflicting social media reports.

Importantly, the jihadists also now claim control of Aleppo city’s international airport, which has long been a key regional hub. Russian and Syrian airstrikes have continued to pound the central occupied parts of Aleppo. These mark the first such major aerial bombardments of the city since the anti-Assad insurgents were driven out in 2016.

Amid rapid and stunning gains on Saturday, HTS and other allied al-Qaeda splinter groups have also captured the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib region. Dozens of civilians, Syrian Army soldiers, as well as HTS militants have died Friday into Saturday, especially as airstrikes ramp up against the black-clad and well-armed invaders.

The Syrian Army has acknowledged a temporary retreat from Aleppo in order to regroup, also as Moscow is demanding that President Assad quickly restore order:

The military said on Saturday that dozens of its soldiers had been killed or wounded in fierce battles with “armed terrorist organisations” in the governorates of Aleppo and Idlib over the previous few days and that it was now regrouping, redeploying troops to strengthen its defence lines as it prepared a “counterattack”.

It said that rebel groups had launched “a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts”, reporting clashes “over a strip exceeding 100km [60 miles]”.

The army said the rebels had entered large parts of Aleppo but army bombardment had stopped them from establishing fixed positions. It promised to “expel them and restore the control of the state … over the entire city and its countryside”.

Al Jazeera correspondent Resul Serdar has remarked, “That this happened in just four days is unbelievable.”

One of the more interesting revelations and admissions from mainstream media has been that this new assault is being directed from NATO member Turkey. The AFP has bluntly said Turkish intelligence gave the greenlight for the attack on Aleppo.

AFP writes that “Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkey had given a green light to the offensive.” AFPs correspondent in HTS/AQ-held Idlib additionally reported that “The jihadists and their Turkey-backed allies took orders from a joint operations command.”

And this is precisely how Idlib was taken over by various Al-Qaeda factions in 2015: an operations room in southern Turkey staffed by NATO allies’ intelligence officers supported it from start to finish.

The Syrian Army reportedly has a strong presence in Hama in preparation for possible attack:

Meanwhile, below is a brief trip down memory lane to understand how all of this began over a decade ago, and Washington’s direct role in the regime change efforts in Syria…

Click here to read more.

Source Zero Hedge