Rebels in Syria Reach Outskirts of Aleppo, in Biggest Advance in Years, Monitor Says

Syrian rebels pressed their fight against government forces for a third day on Friday after launching a surprise offensive, reaching the outskirts of the major city of Aleppo in their most significant advance in years, according to a war monitoring group and the rebels.Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes also carried out intense airstrikes on several opposition-held towns and cities on Friday, including 23 strikes on the city of Idlib, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The anti-government fighters managed to breach three neighborhoods at the edge of Aleppo after detonating two car bombs targeting government soldiers, according to the rebels and the Observatory.The monitoring group did not provide further details on the car bombings, and it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.The rebels posted a map on the Telegram messaging app along with evacuation warnings to civilians in the city of Aleppo, urging people to move to eastern neighborhoods “for your safety.”Syrian state media claimed that government forces had stopped the rebel advance and inflicted huge losses on the rebel side.

The rebels did not immediately respond to the claim, which could not be independently confirmed.The White Helmets, a first-responder organization based in opposition-held areas of Syria, reported numerous civilians had been killed or injured in the government airstrikes on Friday.The rebels come from an array of armed opposition factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once linked with the terror group Al Qaeda but publicly broke ties with it years ago.Turkish-backed rebel groups are also taking part.The opposition fighters launched the offensive on Wednesday, aiming to try to stop airstrikes on opposition-held areas by government forces and their allies.Three days of fierce clashes have killed more than 250 combatants from both sides, including more than 140 from rebel groups and 87 government soldiers and Iran-backe...