ERIC DEGGANS, HOST:
Syrian Rebels have taken control over much of the city of Aleppo, the biggest challenge in years to the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad. It's an important city near the country's border with Turkey and has long been a center of the Syrian civil war. Joining us to explain this operation is Dareen Khalifa of the International Crisis Group. Welcome, Dareen.
DAREEN KHALIFA: Thank you so much for having me, Eric.
DEGGANS: So remind us, what was the status of the Syrian civil war before this attack?
KHALIFA: Well, Syria has been considered what we describe as a frozen conflict since 2020 when Moscow, who was in a much stronger position than it is today, managed to secure a ceasefire agreement with Turkey that held the rebels in a small pocket of territory in northwestern Syria and allowed the Syrian government to control remaining parts of both Aleppo, but also Damascus and major cities of Syria. And since then, those front lines have been somewhat frozen in what looked like an extended stalemate until a few days ago when the rebels went on the offensive and took not only Aleppo City but the entire province of Aleppo and marched southward towards Hama, one of the biggest cities in Syria.
DEGGANS: So given that Assad's regime has had the support, as you said, of Russia and the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, was this operation a surprise?
KHALIFA: Well, the successes are somewhat a surprise. But the rebels have been signaling and telegraphing for quite a bit of time now that they're willing to do this operation. But I don't think the rebels themselves expected how fast they're going to be able to expand into these areas.
DEGGANS: And how has the Syrian government responded to the rebels' advance?
KHALIFA: Well, I think Bashar is nowhere to be seen. He has yet to put out any public statements. The rumors are that he has been in Moscow and might be on his way back to Syria now. I think the rumor mill is all over the place on where - his whereabouts and what his position is. But on the ground, on the military side of things, the Syrian Arab Army has been retreating quite significantly from major locations. And they've been leaving their equipment and their armored carriers and their tanks and everything, and the opposition's been seizing all of that.
DEGGANS: Wow.
KHALIFA: So they're retreating quite significantly and quickly. It could be the case that they're regrouping in closer to ally-controlled areas of Syria. But so far, the regime defense lines seem to be crumbling very quickly.
DEGGANS: So this raises the question - what does this mean for life in Aleppo now and in the future?
KHALIFA: Well, you're asking the right question. There's a lot of concern about the Islamist (ph) nature of some of their rebel factions. What we've seen so far is that these rebels, who are honestly different shades of Islamists at this point, are trying to signal comforting messages to the local population, saying that they're going to be - respect all civilians. They're going to respect the diversity, background, sects of local citizens living in these areas. I had conversations with some of the leadership earlier today of some of the rebel groups, and they reiterated the same message. They said, we are willing to come more public with it. I think they're trying to pursue a clean operation, and they're trying to comfort locals. I think this is going to be a real test of their ability to do so. And if they managed to do that in Aleppo, I think it's going to give them more - a better ability, a better chance to govern different parts of Syria as well.
DEGGANS: Well, thank you so much for updating us on all of this. That's Dareen Khalifa with the International Crisis Group. Thanks for joining us.
KHALIFA: Thank you so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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