BEIRUT - Rebels and their allies reached Syria’s second city of Aleppo on Friday night, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed government.
The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 277 people killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The toll includes 28 civilians, most killed by Russian air strikes.
The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day that a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
By Friday, the rebels and their allies had taken more than 50 towns and villages in the north, according to the Britain-based Observatory, in the government’s biggest loss of territory in years.
They then entered western districts of Aleppo, a city of some two million people that was Syria’s pre-war manufacturing hub.
The fighters “advanced without any significant pushback from regime forces”, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that they had taken control of five neighbourhoods. An AFP correspondent saw clashes in the New Aleppo district.