Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have seized control of up to one-third of rebel-held east Aleppo, meeting little resistance as they stormed northern areas of Syria’s second city leaving tens of thousands of civilians scrambling for ways to escape.



The speed of the advance surprised both the Syrian military and its backers as well as those who had vowed to defend opposition-held districts throughout 12 months of near constant bombardment and siege.

It also appeared to herald the denouement of the battle for control of a city that has been central to the fate of Syria, a country upended by nearly six years of civil war that has greatly destabilised the region and sparked one of the biggest exoduses of refugees anywhere since the end of the second world war.

The ground advance was led by Iraqi militias and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both of which have played dominant roles on the eastern outskirts as preparations for the attack intensified. The Syrian army largely played a support role, sources close to Hezbollah confirmed to the Guardian on Monday.

However, Syrian forces are stationed in greater numbers in the newly seized districts, with militia forces directed by Iran tasked with moving into remaining rebel areas.

Aid groups have said that as many as 250,000 people may still be in east Aleppo, with little access to food, water or medicine. For the first time in the past six months, large numbers of people – by some accounts as many as 20,000 – were attempting to flee on Monday. However, there was no clear route to the north or east. Up to 1,000 people had reportedly crossed into regime-held west Aleppo through the Sheikh Maqsoud district.

Residents of the east described their panic as loyalist forces advanced from the airport in the east of the city to the largely abandoned Masakan Hanano neighbourhood in the north-east.



“For one month they have been attacking Masakan Hanano with airstrikes and artillery,” said Bashir Saleh from inside Aleppo. “When the advance happened, there were a lot of rebels outside of the area because the shelling and bombing was so huge last month. The truth is we were shocked at the weakness of the rebels’ defensive positions. They were directly destroyed.”

Another Aleppo resident, Mohamed al-Ahmed, 30, who lives in Aleppo’s old city, said: “We are so scared. We do not know what we will do. I have a cousin living in Masakan Hanano, and the information I have is that they [pro-Assad troops] took 400 people yesterday from that area to the airport, including him. We have no information about them.”

Residents who spoke to the Guardian on Monday said they feared retribution at the hands of Syrian forces whose leaders had branded all of those who remained in rebel areas as “terrorists” and vowed to hunt them down.



“We were living under opposition control for more than four years and of course many of us became involved with the opposition,” said one man, who refused to give his name. “Now the army is so close, of course they have information about us.”

Another man, who also refused to be identified, said no one in his neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr could leave and few would dare take an exit route to the regime-held west of the city even if they could.

“My brother and uncle were killed at the checkpoints in early 2013,” he said. “They will come for us all now. They will speak about reconciliation and fraternity and they will kill without conscience at the same time. And the world will watch on helplessly, just as it has for the past year.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrian pro-government forces in Aleppo. Photograph: George Ourfalian/AFP/Getty Images

Russian and Syrian airstrikes have systematically targeted east Aleppo’s healthcare system and all other pillars of civilian life, such as bakeries, fruit markets and civil defence. The aftermath is a landscape that barely resembles the city before July 2012, when men from the countryside overran regime positions spurred on by the momentum of an uprising that had seen much of the country slip from the grasp of the Syrian leader.

Russian and Iranian support has been central to the Assad regime’s resurgence. Moscow has provided overwhelming firepower from the air, while Tehran has mobilised and coordinated Shia militia forces that number more than 6,000 for the move into Aleppo.

Five maps that show how the net closed on eastern Aleppo Read more

“When the militias advanced there was a mix of Palestinians, Iraqis, Iranian and Hezbollah,” said Najeeb, 30, from Masakan Hanano. “What can I say? We will try to fight until the last minute, we do not have another option.”

A rebel fighter who identified himself as Imad said: “There were not enough of us to stop the advance of the attack. On the radio we heard their accents, [mainly] Iraqi. I’m sure the people in the advance were from militia but not Syrian army, but then the Syrian army came later and the media came with them.”

One of Aleppo’s few remaining doctors said the ground invasion had sunk morale in the east of the city. “No one knows know what we are going to do,” she said. “The psychological situation for the doctors is so bad. Everyone feels that their life is in danger and their family is in danger. We hope that the rebels can do something. A lot of families are in the streets with no place to stay. There is nothing left. There is no food, there is no heating, and we don’t know what will come next.”

Another resident, who also requested anonymity, said: “All the people are in the streets. There is no home for them. The airstrikes are everywhere, every minute they are burning Aleppo. There is no road to let the civilians leave. Many people prefer to die than to go to the regime side. They said we will die here, and not go to the regime; we won’t give our women to the regime. We will not give our honour to them either.”

Additional reporting by Salem Rizk