Insurgents breach Syria's second-largest city Aleppo in shock offensive

Thousands of insurgents continued their advance on Friday toward Aleppo city, seizing several towns and villages along the way.

The offensive comes as Iran-linked groups, who have backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with the wider Middle East conflict engulfing Lebanon and Gaza.

"These are the areas that we are currently in the process of liberating: Mezanat, Dedraya, Kafr Halab, Sheikh Ali and the neighboring areas where the Iranian militia and the Assad militia were stationed and were bombing civilians," said Hussein Najjar, a fighter within the ranks of the Military Operations Department.

Abdelmajid al-Khatib was displaced from Kafr Halab by the conflict with the regime, but he returned on Thursday.

"We were forced to flee our town because of the repeated bombing by aircraft, vacuum missiles, barrels and all kinds of weapons that Bashar al-Assad and his army used to bomb my village which led to destruction that forced us to flee to the camps," he said.

"When I returned yesterday and today to the village and found it liberated, it was an indescribable joy for me and all the people of the village," he added.

Some insurgents even breached Aleppo on Friday after blowing up two car bombs and were clashing with government forces on the city's western edge, according to a Syria war monitor and fighters.

It was the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were ousted from Aleppo's eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

Witnesses in Aleppo city said residents have been fleeing neighborhoods on the western edge of the city because of missiles and exchanges of fire. The government did not comment on insurgents breaching city limits.

Syria's Armed Forces said in a statement Friday it has been clashing with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, destroying several of their drones and heavy weapons.

It vowed to repel the attack and accused the insurgents of spreading false information about their advances.

Hezbollah, the lead group in an Iran-linked alliance that has backed Syria's government, has been locked in a war with Israel that escalated since September.

A cease-fire was announced Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive.

Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.