Success for Syria’s rebels is far from guaranteed

Syrian Sunni Islamist fighters are continuing to consolidate their gains in Syria’s Aleppo province. Almost the entirety of Aleppo city, sometimes called the capital of Syria’s north, is now in the hands of the Turkey-backed fighters. Russian and Assad regime airstrikes have begun in earnest on opposition-held parts of the country’s north west.

The lightning advance of the insurgents has now slowed down. Fresh from their triumph in Aleppo, the Sunni fighters sought to push into Hama province further south. Elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – or the ‘Organization for the liberation of Syria/the Levant’), which is spearheading the push south, entered the suburbs of the city but were quickly expelled. HTS is currently contesting areas of the Hama countryside with regime forces.  

Significant reinforcements for Assad’s beleaguered soldiers have now arrived from Iraq, in the form of Iraqi Shia fighters from the Ktaeb Hezbollah and Afghan Shia Fatemiyoun organisations.