PHOTO: Turkey-rebel convoy en route to offensive against ISIS-held al-Bab in Aleppo Province on Friday


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The Journalist in Aleppo


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UPDATE 1720 GMT: A pro-Assad blogger reports, “Palmyra has been captured by ISIS. Final Syrian Army soldiers reportedly evacuating the western district. Still some clashes near Historical District.”

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UPDATE 2020 GMT: Both pro-Assad and pro-opposition activists are reporting intense Russian airstrikes to try and push the Islamic State out of Palmyra, hours after the city was taken by ISIS.

The Russian operations reportedly include 20 helicopters, six jets, and a Tu-95 bomber.

The opposition STEP News Agency says ISIS fighters have pulled out of the city to nearby orchards.


UPDATE 1720 GMT: Multiple local activists report that the Islamic State has entered Palmyra, with most of the regime defenders fleeing.

ISIS reportedly entered from the north and west of the Roman-era city and are now fighting in the center.

A pro-Assad activist passes on claimed messages from Syrian army troops that National Defense Forces militias have left the city.

A regime soldier who said he and colleagues “walked 15 km on foot with this load so the coldness does not kill them”.

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The Islamic State surrounded Palmyra in a lighting offensive on Friday.


UPDATE 1120 GMT: A video message from eastern Aleppo to Western media, “[Pro-Assad forces] only regain control over a heap of rubble, a pile of destruction. a dead lifeless pile of nothingness.”

Claimed footage of children suffering after a chlorine attack on the Kalaseh district today:

Drone footage of eastern Aleppo city:

People gathered at a regime checkpoint on Thursday:

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Photo: Youssef Karwashan/AFP/Getty


ORIGINAL ENTRY: In a day illustrating the complexity of the multi-sided Syrian conflict, a Turkish-rebel offensive threatened to take one of the last ISIS-held towns even as the Islamic State surrounded the regime-held historic city of Palmyra.

Meanwhile, rebels held out in the remaining 25% of opposition-held eastern Aleppo city against pro-Assad attacks, pursued despite a de facto “suspension of military operations” which had been declared by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

After weeks of expectation, the Turkish-rebel force launched its assault on the Islamic State in al-Bab, the main ISIS position in Aleppo Province. The offensive quickly surrounded the town and reportedly entered it before fighters were pushed back by two vehicle-borne suicide bombs.

Capture of al-Bab would be a significant gain for the rebels and Turkey, who intervened with airstrikes, armored vehicles, and special forces on August 24. Since then, the offensive has cleared ISIS from the Turkish-Syrian border, pushing the group back into Aleppo Province.

However, the Islamic State — which has also lost much of its territory in the past year to a Kurdish-led offensive moving across northeast Syria — hit back with a lightning offensive on Friday against President Assad’s troops.

ISIS launched a three-sided attack around the historic city of Palmyra, which it had lost to the regime in March 2016. The assault quickly claimed the town of Huweisis and the Mahr oilfield, the village of Jazal and its oilfield, and a series of checkpoints.

The Islamic State and local activists each claim that more than 85 regime troops were killed.

ISIS also said on Saturday that it shot down a regime MiG-23 jet near the Jazal oilfield. Pro-regime outlets claim the warplane suffered technical failure.

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Claimed footage of the fighting, with regime fighters running across the battlefield:

In eastern Aleppo city, rebels claimed that they inflicted heavy casualties on pro-Assad forces trying to seize some of the remaining opposition districts.

The rebels and pro-opposition activists said more than 50 Iranian, Afghan, and regime militiamen were killed in fighting in Sheikh Saeed, on the southern edge of the opposition area, and in Jeb Chalabi. Eight militiamen were reportedly captured, and two tanks and a BMP were destroyed.

A regime military official insisted, “The advance is going according to plan and is sometimes faster than expected.” He said that 85% of opposition territory had now been taken.

However, a commander in the paramilitaray Tiger Force, a Syrian special army unit, admitted his troops had suffered heavy losses in the narrow lanes around Bab al-Hadeed, near the Aleppo Citadel.

“The militants had sophisticated weapons, especially sniper rifles, and they were professionals,” said the commander. “Their resistance was very fierce. We had a lot of martyrs.”

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had announced a de facto ceasefire. However, residents and journalists said attacks never stopped in east Aleppo, with a Reuters correspondent reporting nine airstrikes within 30 minutes on Friday.

Lavrov later pulled back his statement, saying the operations had paused for “a certain period” to let civilians leave — an apparent pretext covering a Russian attempt to get an agreement with the US for the withdrawal of all rebels — but would now “go on until bandits leave eastern Aleppo”.

The Russian “Center For Reconciliation” said, without supporting evidence, that “almost 18,000 civilians, including over 7,500 children” left easetern Aleppo city on Friday.

The Local Coordination Committees said that, of 91 deaths documented across Syria on Friday, 56 were in and near Aleppo. Most were killed by regime airstrikes on areas such as Jalloum Maadi, and Deir Jamal in Aleppo city; however, some were from aerial attacks on al-Bab.

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A poster of President Assad in a recaptured area of Aleppo (Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)


UN General Assembly Votes for Ceasefire Throughout Syria

The UN General Assembly voted 122 to 13 on Friday to demand an immediate cessation of hostilities in Syria, humanitarian aid access, and an end to all sieges.

Another thirty-six countries abstained on the Canadian-drafted resolution.

The measure is non-binding. Earlier this week Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution for a seven-day ceasefire in besieged and bombarded eastern Aleppo city.

Russia dismissed the General Assembly text before the vote. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, “To expect that it is going to produce some kind of dramatic U-turn in the situation in Syria is unrealistic.”

The resolution asks the UN Secretary General to report in 45 days on the implementation of the resolution, with recommendations “on ways and means to protect civilians”.


Reports: Renewed US-Supported, Kurdish-Led Offensive Against ISIS-Held Raqqa

Reports indicate that the US-supported, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have renewed their offensive against Raqqa, the main Islamic State position in northern Syria.

The SDF initially announced the offensive in early November but made only limited gains before halting operations.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter announced on Saturday that 200 more US special forces, advisors, and bomb disposal experts are being sent to assist the offensive.

They join 300 US special forces already working with the SDF.


A Week in Idlib Province: 136 Killed in 171 Russian-Regime Airstrikes

The White Helmets rescue service summarize the attacks and casualties in Idlib Province in northwest Syria in the past week: