What does the control of the Syrian opposition forces over the city of "Tal Rifaat" mean?

The leadership of the "Dawn of Freedom" operation affiliated with the Syrian National Army announced that its forces had taken control of the city of Tal Rifaat, located north of Aleppo and which had been in the hands of Kurdish units for years, hours after they had taken control of the nearby "Meng" military base and airport.

The media affiliated with the Syrian National Army published pictures showing armed men in the center of the city of Tal Rifaat, after confirming the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from this strategic city, while the opposition’s military operations administration offered the Kurdish forces a safe exit from Aleppo with their weapons.

The first moments of the entry of the #Fajr_Al-Hurriya operations room fighters into the center of Tal Rifaat city and the expulsion of the SDF militias and the Assad regime from it pic.twitter.com/2K7QCPuktp

— Qutaiba Yassin (@k7ybnd99) December 1, 2024

What is the importance of Tell Rifaat?

Military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Al-Falahi, said that the Syrian armed opposition’s control over the city of Tal Rifaat, north of Aleppo, will allow it to head towards other areas, and may even reach the Euphrates River.

He explained that with this progress achieved by the opposition, the areas controlled by the "Syrian Democratic Forces" could shrink very significantly.

Colonel Al-Falahi pointed out - in an analysis of the military scene in Syria on Al Jazeera - that the opposition leaders warned of the presence of a number of mines spread in the Tal Rifaat area, and therefore civilians are not allowed to enter in order to clean this area.

For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed earlier that Aleppo had left the control of the Syrian regime for the first time since the beginning of the war, with a few neighborhoods remaining under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Colonel Al-Falahi spoke about the Hama Governorate axis, where he said that the battles are raging heavily. He said that the Syrian regime is trying to send reinforcements in order to hold out in this region, and for its part, the opposition is sending very large forces in order to enter Hama.

He revealed that the armed opposition controls a number of areas in the northern countryside of Hama city (central).

The Syrian armed opposition announced that it had begun to advance into the city of Hama, and that regime forces were fleeing the city. This was denied by the Syrian Ministry of Defense, which confirmed that its forces had not withdrawn from the city, and that they were launching raids in cooperation with Russian forces targeting what it described as terrorist groups and their supply lines.

Regarding the specificity of Hama, the military and strategic expert explained that the control of the armed opposition forces over this city means that they have begun to spread over wide areas, which may lead to opening the door towards the provinces of Homs and Damascus, in addition to the areas of the Syrian coast.

As part of a military operation called "Deterrence of Aggression," the Military Operations Administration (an alliance of opposition factions) launched a surprise attack in Aleppo province, where it was able to advance in parallel with its control over dozens of towns and villages in the neighboring provinces of Idlib (northwest) and Hama (central).

Source: Yemen Youth Net + Al Jazeera