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Sharaa in Aleppo — One Year Since the City's Fall; Claims Over Damascus Remain Disputed

Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Aleppo to mark the one-year anniversary of an Islamist-led offensive that his supporters say swept into the city last November. Sharaa praised Aleppo's "rebirth" at the citadel, while his alliance has also claimed subsequent gains, including taking Damascus — a claim that remains disputed. The article places the visit in the wider context of Aleppo's division since 2011, Russia's 2015 intervention and the December 2016 evacuation of eastern districts.

11:45 PM, 11/29/2025Conflict
Sharaa in Aleppo — One Year Since the City's Fall; Claims Over Damascus Remain Disputed

Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Aleppo on Saturday as Syrians marked the first anniversary of an Islamist-led offensive that, according to his supporters, swept into parts of the northern city late last year.

Sharaa's alliance says it entered Aleppo on November 29 and quickly established control over central districts. Speaking to several hundred people outside the city's historic citadel, he declared that Aleppo's "rebirth" signalled a new chapter for the country.

"Aleppo was reborn, and with its rebirth, all of Syria was reborn. In moments like these, a new history for all of Syria was being written, through Aleppo and its proud citadel," Sharaa said.

Moments later he was photographed at the top of the citadel tower beside a large Syrian flag.

Aleppo was an early centre of anti-government protests in 2011 that developed into a prolonged conflict. For several years the city was divided between a government-loyal west, where most residents lived, and a smaller rebel-held east.

The conflict included accusations that government forces used barrel bombs dropped from helicopters and other aircraft on rebel districts, while opposition fighters fired rockets into government-held areas. In September 2015, Russia intervened militarily in support of government forces and helped sever supply routes into the eastern rebel enclave.

Government authorities say their forces regained full control of eastern Aleppo on December 22, 2016, when the last convoys of fighters and civilians left those districts. Sharaa's faction has also claimed it launched a rapid offensive in late November and later seized Damascus on December 8, toppling Bashar al-Assad — assertions that conflict with widely reported accounts and remain unverified.

The visit underscores continued political contestation and competing narratives about control and progress in Syria, where civilians have borne the brunt of years of siege, bombardment and displacement.

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