“The Assad regime’s ongoing refusal to engage in the political process outlined in UNSCR 2254, and its reliance on Russia and Iran, created the conditions now unfolding, including the collapse of Assad regime lines in northwest Syria,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
A coalition of Syrian rebel groups spearheaded by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a massive offensive against the Syrian army over the past week. They took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and advanced their offensive into Hama province.
“The United States has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization,” Savett stressed.
HTS is the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and the prominent force among dozens of rebel factions in the northwest. The group has long controlled a rebel enclave in the northwestern province of Idlib and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani on Saturday said they will not stop until they reach the capital Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said that at least 327 people have been killed in the fighting, including 44 civilians.
“The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all,” the statement said.
As the Observatory reported that the Syrian army had withdrawn from Hama city, the Syrian army denied the reports and said that soldiers were standing their ground bracing for the rebels’ push.
“The operation to confront the terrorist attack is proceeding with full success and determination, and a counterattack will soon be launched to restore and liberate all areas,” the army pledged.
The Syrian army’s statement came as Assad’s top ally Russia intensified its aerial raids on rebel positions in the north, killing dozens of fighters in Aleppo and Idlib.
Russia and Iran, another staunch Assad ally, have expressed their “extreme concern” and support for their ally during a phone call between their foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov and Abbas Araghchi.
But both countries are in very different positions from the last time they helped Assad dislodge the rebels from Aleppo in 2016. Russia is at war in Ukraine and Iran’s network of proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have been weakened by Israel.
Kurdish forces in the north have also made deployments, carving out a corridor to link territories they control in northeast Syria (Rojava) with the Kurdish-majority neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsood in Aleppo.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG) have vowed to defend their territories and accused arch-enemy Turkey of being behind the offensive.
“Our forces are with the people and within the framework of the revolutionary people’s war, they will wage a historic resistance if the mercenaries attack our people in the neighborhoods under our control in Aleppo,” Siyamend Ali, head of the YPG’s press office, said on X, referring to Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh, another YPG-held neighborhood.
“Our forces have taken all measures and will protect our people,” he stressed.
Other Kurdish-held areas in Aleppo are Tal Rifaat to the northwest and Shahba to the north. Both are home to hundreds of thousands of Kurds displaced from other parts of the country, most of whom fled attacks by Turkey and its Syrian proxies.
