Car bomb attacks in Aleppo target Syrian regime forces amid fierce offensive

In recent weeks, Damascus and its ally Moscow have escalated their campaign to retake the country's last opposition bastion in the northwestern province of Idlib and areas of neighbouring Aleppo.

Forces loyal to Assad have made significant advances this week, capturing the key town of Maarat al-Numan with the help of brutal Russian aerial bombardment. In rebel hands since 2012, Maarat al-Numan lies on the coveted M5 highway connecting the capital to Aleppo.

Two suicide car bomb attacks targeted pro-regime forces in the Jamiyat al-Zahraa area west of Aleppo, with a third car bomb set off by remote control, according to a source within the extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks.

A news outlet linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate that holds much of Idlib province, published a video on Saturday showing its fighters pledging allegiance to "allegiance to death and jihad" as the extremist faction's leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani watches.

The two sides gave conflicting accounts of the attacks, Reuters reported.

Syrian state news agency SANA said regime troops destroyed four car bombs before they reached their targets, and an outlet run by Hezbollah, a key supporter of Assad, said regime forces had thwarted a "fierce attack" by Jolani's militants.

But according to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-linked Ebaa, the militant group's forces were successful in their assault, capturing a group of houses on a hill overlooking Aleppo, which has been under full regime control since late 2016.

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 1, 2020" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post "Maarat Al-Numan was under regime bombardment for the past nine years. Many neighbourhoods were destroyed but its people would rebuild every time to continue with their lives" https://t.co/pykOVdQqYa — The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 1, 2020

A source within the group told Reuters that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters had targeted "Iranian occupation militias", referring to the Iran-backed groups who back Assad.

Around 50 kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Aleppo, Turkish-backed rebels assaulted regime-held positions near the city of Al-Bab, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Turkish forces did not take part in the attack, a rebel source added.

Read more: The story of Idlib's 'ceasefires' is the story of Syria's war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey could launch a fresh military offensive in northern Syria if the assault on Idlib does not cease.

More than 300,000 people have been forced from their homes by Russian bombardment and the regime advance since mid-December, according to the United Nations.

Around half of Idlib's three million-strong population are civilians already displaced from elsewhere in Syria.

Speaking in Ankara on Friday, Erdogan said his country could not risk a fresh influx of refugees, nor would it allow threats near its borders.

"We will do what is necessary when someone is threatening our soil," he said. "We will not allow the regime to put our country under the constant threat of migrants by tormenting, attacking, spilling the blood of... its people."

Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees, whose continued presence in the country after almost nine years of war is unpopular among much of the Turkish public.

Ankara has increasingly pressed Western powers to agree to allow the construction of a so-called "safe zone" in northern Syria along its borders where Turkey can resettle many of those refugees.

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