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Syrian rebel fighters said they were pushing south after taking most of the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, including the international airport, in a lightning raid, posing the biggest challenge to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in years.

Thousands of rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham entered the city of Aleppo, which has a population of two million, on Friday. Images circulating on opposition-affiliated social media this weekend showed them raising their flag over the city’s citadel and posing at the airport.

The rebels, who launched their attack on Wednesday, said their fighters had advanced in several directions from their stronghold in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. HTS attempted to advance into the regime-controlled major city of Hama, south of Aleppo, and claimed to have captured at least four towns in Hama province. The Syrian army denied this.

In his first public comments since the offensive began, Assad said in a statement carried by state news agency Sana that his country would continue to “defend its stability and its territorial integrity in the face of terrorists and their supporters.”

The comments came during a phone call with Emirati leader Mohammed bin Zayed, an Assad ally, who “emphasized the UAE’s solidarity with Syria and its support in the fight against terrorism.”

It was unclear whether Assad had returned to Syria after a visit to Moscow earlier this week.

The Syrian army denied that the rebels had secured Aleppo, but later added that it was redeploying its troops to launch a counterattack supported by Russian airstrikes and strengthen its defense lines after days of bitter fighting. Dozens of Syrian army soldiers were killed by rebels, the Defense Ministry said.

Assad faces increasing internal and external pressure in a country reeling from a civil war that erupted after a popular uprising in 2011. With the military support of Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed groups, including the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah, he managed to put down the initial uprising.

Despite regaining control of two-thirds of the country, it remains in ruins due to years of conflict and a severe economic crisis.

Fighting had largely subsided in recent years and the surviving rebel groups were pushed into northern and northwestern areas near the Turkish border.

But last year Israel stepped up its airstrikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria as it launched an offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, significantly weakening groups that had played a crucial role in keeping Assad in power.

HTS’s ability to penetrate deeper into Syria is a major embarrassment to Assad and underscores the regime’s weakness. The offensive appeared to have been planned for years and comes at a time when Assad’s allies are preoccupied with their own conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East.

HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani said in old video footage reposted this weekend by social networks affiliated with the group that his fighters would not rest “until we reach the heart of Damascus.”

Russian warplanes bombed rebel positions to stem their advance. The Russian Defense Ministry was quoted by state news agencies as saying the country’s armed forces had “killed at least 300 militants in rocket attacks.” . . on command posts, warehouses and artillery positions”.

Pro-opposition media reported several Russian airstrikes in Idlib on Saturday evening and Sunday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation in Syria with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. Lavrov also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is expected to visit Damascus on Sunday and Ankara on Monday, as major powers involved in Syria began frantic diplomacy.