Jihadists and their allies swept into Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, early today after a two-day lightning offensive against the regime, ending a few years of relative calm in northwest Syria.

The fighting, which has killed more than 277 people, according to a new tally by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is the most violent since 2020 in the region, where Aleppo province, much of which is held by government forces, adjoins the last major rebel and jihadist stronghold in Idlib.

Today, two eyewitnesses told AFP they saw armed men in Aleppo and spoke of scenes of panic in the large northern Syrian city.

“They entered the western and southwestern neighborhoods,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists then took control of five districts, he added, clarifying that government forces “did not put up much resistance”.

An AFP correspondent who entered the New Aleppo district with the rebels spoke of clashes between the attackers and the Syrian forces and groups supporting them.

According to the Observatory, which is based in Britain but has a large network of information sources in Syria, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied groups, some close to Turkey, reached the city gates today after “two car bomb suicide attacks”.

The Syrian army, which deployed reinforcements to Aleppo, according to a security official, said it had repelled “a major attack by terrorist groups” and recaptured several positions.

During the civil war that broke out in 2011, regime forces, with the support of the Russian air force, recaptured the eastern part of Aleppo from the rebels, after devastating bombardments.

“For the first time in almost five years, we keep hearing the rockets and artillery shells, and sometimes the planes,” described Charmand, a resident, 51, who was contacted by AFP by phone.

“We fear that the war scenario will repeat itself and we will be forced to leave our homes,” he added.

According to an AFP correspondent on the rebel side, the fighters said they were receiving orders from a joint operations room.

The offensive has allowed the jihadists to seize nearly fifty locations since Wednesday, according to the Observatory. Today, the air forces of Russia and Syria launched heavy raids in the Idlib region.

Militants bombed Aleppo for the first time in four years, targeting a university campus where four civilians were killed, the official SANA news agency reported.

“It’s strange to see the regime forces taking such blows despite Russian air cover. Were the regime forces dependent on Hezbollah, which is now in control of Lebanon?” asked Rami Abdel Rahman, referring to the war between Israel and the Lebanese movement, an ally of Damascus, which ended on Wednesday with a truce.

Another close ally of Syria, Iran, reiterated its “continued support”. Tehran pledged military support to President Assad during the civil war.

In this war, the HTS organization, which is dominated by the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, had taken control of entire parts of Idlib province, as well as neighboring territories in the districts of Aleppo, Hamas and Latakia.

According to the Observatory, the fighting today reached the strategic town of Saraqeb, which is controlled by government forces and is located south of Aleppo, at the intersection of two highways.

They also captured the city of Saraqeb

Jihadists and their allies have captured the strategically important city of Saraqeb, in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced.

Saraqeb is in Idlib province and its capture is important for the jihadists and their allies as it will help prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces from advancing on Aleppo.