Aleppo authorities have closed the airport and all roads leading to the city, Reuters reports, citing sources.
Government troops were ordered to "carefully retreat" from the main areas of the city where the militants entered, the agency's interlocutors said.
CNN geolocated videos, one of which shows militants waving the flag of the Syrian opposition in the deserted central square of Aleppo, Saadallah al-Jabiri. The second video shows a fighter lowering the Syrian flag from the flagpole at the statue of Bassel al-Assad, the late brother of President Bashar al-Assad, on the eastern outskirts of the New Aleppo district.
The channel also transmits a message from militants who announced the seizure of a military research center on the outskirts of the city.
The groups control more than 40% of the western quarters of the city of Aleppo, Al Mayadeen TV channel reports.
The militants returned to Aleppo for the first time in eight years, since the end of 2016, when the Syrian army, with the support of Russia, liberated the city. He has not been attacked since. The current escalation has become the largest since 2020 — then the parties agreed on a cease-fire with the mediation of Russia and Turkey, RBC reminds.
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