Rebels take control of Aleppo: ‘Total collapse’ of Syrian regime

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00:00We can speak to Radwan Ziyadeh, the Executive Director of the Syrian Center for Political

00:04and Strategic Studies.

00:05He's joining us on the line from Washington.

00:07Hello to you, Radwan.

00:08Thank you for speaking to us.

00:10What struck you the most about this fighting?

00:13Hi, good morning.

00:15Thank you for having me.

00:16It's a little bit complicated, but when the opposition forces controlled Aleppo back in

00:252012, the Syrian regime depends on Russia, especially Russia intervened in September

00:332015.

00:35Now we see a total collapse of the Syrian regime forces and the forces, the Shiite militias,

00:43who the Iraqi and Hezbollah militias who supported Assad.

00:48This is why we see the total collapse of those militias who decided to withdraw from the

00:53city of Aleppo.

00:55And then the opposition forces, they came in and controlled most of the areas in Aleppo.

01:01It's of course landmark because the opposition never reached some areas in Aleppo neighborhood

01:06right now, back in 2012.

01:09It gives us maybe a hope that the Syrian opposition forces will be able to control the whole city

01:16for the first time since 2011.

01:20In the past 15 minutes, Reuters is reporting that Syrian rebels say that they have all

01:26of Idlib province now under rebel control.

01:31Do you expect that we're going to see more and more fighting in this and that the civil

01:35war will sort of be reignited?

01:39I think the Syrian opposition will control most of the Idlib because the news now the

01:45Syrian opposition control Ma'arat al-Nu'man and al-Duhur airport.

01:51Those two areas, as example, the Syrian opposition lost thousands of lives back in 2013, 2014,

02:00and were unable to capture any of these territories.

02:05Now with the collapse of the Syrian regime and with the collapse of most of the militias

02:11cooperated within the Syrian regime, it's clear that the opposition have the path forward

02:18open to be able to capture more areas, maybe go more to the south, maybe the city of Homs

02:25and in Hama.

02:26It's not clear that the Russians and other militias, the Shia Iranian militias and Hezbollah

02:33will be able to step in and to help because Hezbollah is defeated in Lebanon between the

02:39fight between Israel and Hezbollah.

02:41At the same time, at the same time, Russia is involved militarily in Ukraine and very

02:49busy there.

02:50I'm not sure we'll be able to step in and help the Assad government back here in Syria.

02:56And are you linking this uptick in fighting with the ceasefire in Lebanon at all?

03:05I don't think there is a link, because from the footages and the videos we've seen almost

03:12every second in Aleppo, most of the fighters actually are Aleppo citizen who left the city.

03:21Don't forget that Idlib used to be half a million people, Idlib now is 3 million people

03:27because of the refugees and displaced people in Aleppo and other areas.

03:32They are celebrating that because they will be able to go back to their homes and their

03:37towns in Aleppo and in other areas.

03:41It's very much complicated because it's not only Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or Al-Nusra Front

03:46control most of the opposition forces.

03:50It has five different armed opposition forces who come together to have what's called deterrent

03:58of the aggression of the Syrian regime and to be able to go back to their homes.

04:05I expect that we'll be able to have more momentum and capture more territories in the Aleppo

04:12suburbs and in Idlib suburbs, maybe to be able to reach Hama, which now most of the

04:19Syrian regime forces withdraw into the city of Hama.

04:23There's already been blame traded as to how the rebels have made these advances.

04:29Iran's Revolutionary Guards accuse Israel of supporting the rebels, others speculate

04:33it's Turkey that is supporting the rebels.

04:37What do you think?

04:39Some fractions of the Syrian armed opposition backed by Turkey for sure.

04:44But some other fractions, they are not really in good terms with Turkey.

04:51This is why I see it's the motivation of the Syrian armed forces.

04:55I think it's more internal than be triggered by external power or between external power

05:03like Turkey or the United States as the Syrian regime accused the rebel forces backed and

05:11supported by the United States and Israel.

05:14I don't think this matter anymore.

05:16This war, it's been more than 13 years.

05:19We should not forget that.

05:21And more 7 million Syrians displaced in the north.

05:25They have the resources and they have the anger.

05:29They have actually the passion to go back and to participate in any military operation

05:35to be able to air their cows.

05:37And remember that the Syrian regime has no legitimate argument and has no forces to support,

05:45has no human power.

05:47He really relies on Hezbollah and other Iranian militias like Fatimiyoun and Zainabiyoun.

05:53And those got tired and they got actually defeated and hit hard by the Israeli forces

06:00in the two-month fight between Israel and Hezbollah.

06:04This is why I think those militias who's been the backbone of the Syrian regime forces in

06:12Aleppo, it disseminated and withdrew, they decided to withdraw.

06:19And this is why the Syrian regime has no forces to step in and to keep the points.

06:26All right.

06:27Rodwin, thank you very much.

06:28Rodwin Ziadeh joining us from Washington.

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