Syrian insurgents are inside Aleppo in a major setback for Assad as government forces regroup

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Syrian insurgents fanned out inside Aleppo in vehicles with improvised armor and pickups, deploying to landmarks such as the old citadel on Saturday, a day after they entered Syria's largest city facing little resistance from government troops, according to residents and fighters.

Witnesses said two airstrikes on the city's edge late Friday targeted insurgent reinforcements and hit near residential areas. A war monitor said 20 fighters were killed.

Syria's armed forces said in a statement Saturday that to absorb the large attack on Aleppo and save lives, it has redeployed and is preparing for a counterattack. The statement acknowledged that insurgents entered large parts of the city but said they have not established bases or checkpoints.

Insurgents were filmed outside police headquarters, in the city center, and outside the Aleppo citadel. They tore down posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, stepping on some and burning others.

The surprise takeover is a huge embarrassment for Assad, who managed to regain total control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which his forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since then. The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

The push into Aleppo followed weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, which has backed Syrian opposition groups, failed in its diplomatic efforts to prevent the Syrian government attacks, which were seen as a violation of a 2019 agreement sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran to freeze the line of the conflict.

The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, primarily Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battles at home. A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month war with Israel took effect Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

A witness in Aleppo said government troops remained in the city's airport and at a military academy but most of the forces have already filed out of the city from the south. Syrian Kurdish forces remained in two neighborhoods.

The redeployment “is a temporary measure and (the military central command and armed forces) will work to guarantee the security and peace of all our people in Aleppo,” the military statement said.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, an teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned Friday night after hearing the insurgents were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories."

“As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself this is impossible! How did this happen?” He said he strolled through the city at night, visiting the citadel, where the insurgents raised their flags, a major square and the university of Aleppo, as well as the last spot he was in before he was forced to leave for the countryside.

“I walked in (the empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting, ‘People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,’” Alhamdo told The Associated Press in a series of messages.

The insurgents launched their shock offensive in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside on Wednesday and wrestled control of dozens of villages and towns before entering Aleppo on Friday.

The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported airstrikes on the edge of Aleppo city targeting rebel supply lines. It posted a video of a missile landing on a gathering of fighters and vehicles, in a street lined with trees and buildings.

Twenty fighters were killed in the airstrikes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Aleppo residents reported clashes and gunfire. Some fled the fighting.

Schools and government offices were closed Saturday as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open. Witnesses said the insurgents deployed security forces around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.

In social media post, the insurgents were pictured outside of Aleppo Citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. In cellphone videos, they recorded themselves having conversations with residents they visited at home, seeking to reassure them they will cause no harm.

State media reported that a number of “terrorists," including sleeper cells, infiltrated parts of the city. Government troops chased them and arrested a number who posed for pictures near city landmarks, state media said.

On a state TV morning show Saturday, commentators said army reinforcements and Russia’s assistance will repel the “terrorist groups,” blaming Turkey for supporting the insurgents’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, a Russian Defense Ministry official coordinating in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes targeted and killed 200 militants who launched the offensive in the northwest on Friday. It provided no further details.

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Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.

Opposition fighters step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

An opposition fighter poses with an opposition flag in front of a police station in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition fighters hold up their guns as they pose for photos under a billboard depicting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition fighters ride along the streets of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition fighters ride along the streets of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian opposition fighters patrol along the streets of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian opposition fighters warm themselves by a fire in the streets of Aleppo, late Friday Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian opposition fighters burn government Syrian flags for the cameras next to Aleppo's old city, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian opposition fighter shoots in the air in downtown Aleppo, Syria, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian opposition fighter takes a picture of a comrade stepping on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Aleppo, early Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Vehicles burn after an airstrike against opposition fighters in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition forces take control of areas outside Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition forces take control of areas outside Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition forces take control of areas outside Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Opposition forces take control of areas outside Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The first big snow of the season threatened to bury towns in New York along lakes Erie and Ontario during a hectic holiday travel and shopping weekend.

In Michigan, heavy lake-effect snow in northern parts of the state was expected to continue into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Gaylord. Some areas of the Upper Peninsula could see up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of snow Sunday night through to Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Lily Chapman said.

As flakes began flying Friday, New York state forecasters warned 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) of blowing and drifting snow could fall in Watertown and other areas east of Lake Ontario through Monday.

After an unusually mild fall, as much as 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) of snow were possible along Lake Erie and south of Buffalo from lake-effect bands notorious for pummeling the region with snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) per hour. Lake-effect snow happens when warm moist air rising from a body of water mixes with cold dry air overhead.

“The lake is 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius). We’re about six degrees above where we should be this time of year, that’s why we’re seeing these heavy lake-effect events,” Erie County Public Works Commissioner William Geary said. “The outlook for the next two weeks into December, we’ll probably see some more.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency for the targeted counties, allowing state agencies to mobilize resources. Rapidly deteriorating conditions Friday caused closures along Interstate 90, and tandem and commercial vehicles were banned from Interstate 86 in western New York and much of U.S. Route 219 beginning Friday afternoon.

“There’s a considerable number of vehicles going off the road on the 219 currently,” Gregory Butcher, Erie County deputy director for preparedness and homeland security, said at an afternoon briefing.

ATVs and snowmobiles were being placed around the county to help first responders if necessary, Butcher said.

The Buffalo Bills called for volunteers to potentially shovel snow at Highmark Stadium, where over 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow was possible before Sunday night's game against the San Francisco 49ers. Last year, a major lake-effect storm forced the NFL to push back the Bills wild-card playoff home game against Pittsburgh from Sunday to Monday.

“It’s going to be slow going, there’s no doubt about that,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, adding the heaviest snow is expected to be over by kickoff.

The team, meanwhile, was preparing to play in any conditions.

“We’re trying to stay on top of it,” coach Sean McDermott said Friday.

The Bills are 9-2, their best start since 1992, and with a win Sunday they would clinch their fifth straight AFC East title.

Lake-effect snow also covered parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in a system that is expected to last through the weekend. The area was blanketed in snow by Friday afternoon, with some places already measuring more than a foot (0.3 meters) of snow.

“We’ve got this westerly, northwesterly flow regime and this chilly air mass over the U.P.,” said Chapman of the National Weather Service. “So it’s a pretty good setup for this long duration lake-effect snowfall event.”

Gusty winds, especially near the Great Lakes, has impacted visibility in Michigan and Chapman urged caution on the roads.

Joe DeLizio, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said visibility on roads was low but he hadn’t been made aware of any major accidents so far.

“Haven’t heard too much as far as problems, but obviously travel is pretty difficult,” DeLizio said.

AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed from Orchard Park, New York. Isabella Volmert contributed from Lansing, Michigan, and Joey Cappelletti from Sawyer, Michigan.

Lake-effect snow falls in Lowville, N.Y., on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

FILE - A stadium worker clears snow from seats before an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)