Ukrainian Trained, Turkish Sponsored Syrian Rebels Lead Assault on Aleppo

The offensive thrust into Syria’s Aleppo governate that began on Nov. 27, is being carried out by a coalition of Islamist militant groups led by the Turkish backed former Al Qaeda affiliated group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

According to reports on some Islamist social media sites, the rebel groups based in the Idlib region – which is said to include members of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) – had received operational training from special forces troops from the Khimik group of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR). The training team focused on tactics developed during the war in Ukraine, including on the use of drones.

HUR’s Khimik group was credited with the attack on a Russian military base on the southeastern outskirts of Aleppo on Sept. 15, in which Russian attack drones and “camouflaged improvised explosive devices,” were destroyed according to a Kyiv Post military intelligence source.

It has been suggested that these Ukrainian special forces advisors are providing support to the current opposition attacks but there has been no independent verification of any such involvement.

The suggestion of Ukrainian involvement could be seen as part of a broader trend of Kyiv’s forces targeting Russian forces abroad, including alleged direct support for an Islamist militia attack on Russian Wagner Group mercenaries and government forces on July 26 in Mali.

The head of the HUR, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview in May 2023 after reports that Ukrainian forces were operating against Russian contractors abroad: “We will keep killing Russians anywhere and everywhere until the complete victory of Ukraine.”

Recent reports about a large proportion of Russia’s forces in Syria to reinforce Moscow’s troops fighting in Ukraine has seemed to encourage the rebel offensive. This offensive is said to have so far captured more than 20 villages and other small settlements within the wider Aleppo region, posting more footage of captured Syrian and Russian military equipment.

Several regional sources reported on Wednesday that, as the offensive began, a group of Russian special forces were ambushed and killed on the outskirts of Aleppo by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters. Although exact details of the incident were not provided, the claims were supported by images of a disabled Russian tactical vehicle, bodies in Russian uniforms and body armor, and the display of captured suppressed assault rifles of the sort popular with Moscow’s elite forces.

By Saturday evening, Western mainstream media was reporting that Syrian government forces had been surprised by the speed of the rebel attack which had reached the center of Aleppo. It had met little resistance as both Syrian and Russian forces had made “a tactical withdrawal in preparation of a counter offensive.”

At the same time, it was reported that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) opposition group was assaulting Aleppo city from the east and had taken control of the international airport as regime forces abandoned it.

Th UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported that at least 40 civilians in Aleppo had been killed or injured as Russian aircraft carried out strikes on the city. This had little effect on the progress or morale of the rebel forces who had begun to tear down Syrian flags and posters supporting the Assad regime.

Reuters reported late on Saturday evening that Russia was preparing to transfer additional military equipment including Su-34 fighter aircraft to Syria during the coming days, much of it from forces based in Western Russia supporting Vladimir Putin’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine.