The Syrian government forces withdrew from the city of Aleppo after an attack by rebels against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The army admitted that rebels had captured “many parts” of Syria’s second-largest city, but vowed to launch a counter-attack.
This attack is the most destructive in Syria in recent years.
More than 300 people, including at least 20 civilians, have been killed since it began on Wednesday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Speaking on Saturday, President Assad vowed to “defend [Syria’s] stability and territorial integrity against all terrorists and their supporters”.
“[The country] has the ability, with the help of its allies and friends, to defeat and destroy them, no matter how strong their terrorist attacks are,” his office quoted him as saying.
The civil war, which has claimed the lives of nearly half a million people, began in 2011 after Assad’s government responded to pro-democracy protests against Bashar’s government, which they accused of repression and oppression.
The conflict has largely subsided since a ceasefire was agreed in 2020, but opposition forces remain in control of the northwestern city of Idlib and much of the surrounding region.
Idlib is 55km from Aleppo, which was itself a rebel stronghold until it fell to government forces in 2016.
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