ADRIAN MA, HOST:
We start in Syria, where intense fighting continues after rebels launched a surprise offensive yesterday. They've seized much of Aleppo, Syria's second-most populous city. In remarks carried by Syrian state media, authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad vowed to, quote, "crush the opposition militias that are advancing." This marks the biggest challenge the dictator has faced in several years, and it also marks a revival of the civil war in Syria that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. NPR's Ruth Sherlock has more, and we want to note that this report contains the sounds of sirens.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE #1: (Singing in non-English language).
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Armed rebels in bulletproof jackets cheer and sing outside of the ancient Citadel of Aleppo. With huge grins on their faces, they film themselves to capture the moment as if they themselves can hardly believe where they are.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: The rebels are an umbrella of mostly Sunni Muslim fighters led by an Islamist group with a hard-line past.
ABDULLAH MOUHAMED: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: Abdullah Mouhamed, a media coordinator for one of the Syrian opposition factions, says the rapid collapse of the Syrian regime lines even surprised them when they launched this offensive a little over 72 hours ago.
MOUHAMED: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: "It's an indescribable feeling," he says, "to be in Aleppo." And then he rings off to head back to his hometown. It's been recaptured, and he's going there for the first time in 11 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: A video widely posted online in the hours after the rebel offensive apparently shows men and women being freed from regime prisons. Women dressed in black, all-covering abayas run outside at top speed.
MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: It's truly historic.
SHERLOCK: Mouaz Moustafa is the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an American organization pushing for democracy in Syria.
MOUSTAFA: These are dungeons where people have been tortured and not even seen the light of day for years.
SHERLOCK: Moustafa helped publish the Caesar files, which showed photos of the torture of tens of thousands of prisoners detained by the regime.
MOUSTAFA: Syria should be free of the tyranny of the Assad regime, of the Iranian and Russian occupation.
SHERLOCK: The 13-year civil war has devastated Syria. But in recent years, the conflict had reached a stalemate, with President Assad in control of most of the country and rebels that oppose him controlling parts of Syria's northwestern Idlib province and other border areas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIRENS WAILING)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE #2: (Yelling in non-English language).
SHERLOCK: This renewed assault means more war and more suffering for civilians caught in the middle.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: In Idlib, a civil defense rescuer runs to an ambulance with a bloodied child in his arms, as another tries to help another young boy from the debris of a building hit by an air strike in the Syrian government's counteroffensive. In some government-held parts of the country, there is fear over what may come.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: This woman is in Hama in central Syria. She's too afraid to give her name. She's from the Alawite minority sect in Syria, the same sect as the Assad family.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: She says she's terrified of the rebels that are mostly Sunni Muslims and include hard-line Islamists. As the news of the rebel advance reached them, she says, people in her street packed their possessions into cars and began leaving.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: But there are just as many terrified of government forces. There have been numerous accounts of sectarian killings by both opposition militias and regime factions with civilians gunned down or slaughtered with knives in both Sunni and Alawite villages. The rebel groups that have launched this offensive are sending messages that they won't harm civilians. But with so much dark history in this bloodied civil war, the renewed terror for people across Syria is real. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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