The nation’s president has said his forces and allies are capable of holding back the jihadist advance
Syrian President Bashar Assad has vowed to defeat the jihadists currently rampaging through the north of his country, “no matter how intense their terrorist attacks are.” His comments came as the Syrian Army geared up to defend the city of Hama from the attackers.
In a phone call with Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Saturday, Assad stressed that “Syria continues to defend its stability and territorial integrity in the face of all terrorists,” according to a readout published by his office.
Syria “is capable, with the help of its allies and friends, of defeating and eliminating them no matter how intense their terrorist attacks are,” Assad added, according to the statement.
The Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group – formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra – and a collection of allied militias attacked government-controlled territory in northern Syria on Wednesday, breaking a fragile truce established by Russia and Türkiye in 2020. By Friday, HTS fighters had entered Aleppo, which had been under Syrian government control since 2016.
In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian General Command said that the attack was “supported by thousands of foreign terrorists, heavy weapons, and a large number of drones,” and that dozens of Syrian Army personnel had been killed defending Aleppo.
Syrian government forces succeeded in preventing the total loss of Aleppo, and have withdrawn from the city to prepare a counterattack, the General Command said. According to unconfirmed reports on social media, Syrian forces have started arriving in the city of Hama – around 80km south of Aleppo – in preparation for this counteroffensive.
Sporadic clashes have broken out on the outskirts of Hama as the jihadists advance on the city, Turkish media reported on Saturday. Iranian military advisers and volunteers have arrived in Hama to assist the Syrian military, according to both pro- and anti-Assad Telegram news groups.
Sheikh Mohammed told Assad that the UAE “stands with the Syrian state and supports it in combating terrorism and extending its sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability,” according the Syrian leader’s office.
Iran has vowed to issue a “serious” response to HTS, after the group attacked its consulate in Aleppo and killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Kiyumars Pourhashemi earlier this week. Russia, which has maintained a military presence in Syria since 2015, has been carrying out airstrikes against the jihadists, killing at least 600 militants since Thursday, according to Colonel Oleg Ignasyuk, the deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria.