Syrian army confirms rebels entered Aleppo

The Syrian military said on Saturday that dozens of its troops had been killed during an insurgent attack in northwestern Syria and that rebels had managed to enter large parts of Aleppo city, forcing the army to redeploy, Reuters writes.

The Syrian military statement was the first public acknowledgement by the army that insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had entered the government-held city of Aleppo.

The army’s statement says the large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted the Syrian armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack.