Asked if the rebels could now take all of Aleppo in what would be the biggest blow to Assad of the entire war, Abdeh said: “I think it is just a matter of time”.
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They released drone footage which shows the moment a suicide bomber drove a truck through the city and blew himself up, allowing rebel groups to advance forward and seize a military complex with small arms, ammunition and heavy artillery.
The group’s fighters surged through government territory Saturday, breaking a government siege in a major setback for the government and opening a new route into the northern city’s besieged eastern neighborhoods, home to an estimated 250,000 people.
Addressing rebel fighters across the country, he said the key to defeating government forces was uniting against the regime.
Rebels also brought seven pick-up trucks full of fruit and vegetables into the eastern sector of Aleppo which had been under government siege since July 17, an opposition fighter said.
Aleppo has been roughly divided between government forces in the west and rebel groups in the east since fighting first broke out there in mid-2012.
In a statement Sunday the Army of Conquest announced “the start of a new phase to liberate all of Aleppo”, pledging to “double the number of fighters for this next battle”.
“Because our fighters are not only facing the Syrian regime but they are also facing the militias, Hezbollah, Iranian militias and Russian Federation”, he said at a news conference in Istanbul.
The rebel group that has led the offensive is Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front.
Anas al-Abdah, president of the opposition Syrian Coalition, told reporters in Istanbul, Turkey, that the victory – which saw rebel fighters defeat the might of the Syrian regime along with Iranian, Hezbollah and Russian military power – was “almost a miracle”. “But regime-held western Aleppo, for example, now has to be supplied via contested “war roads” – improvised roads on which it might not be possible to sustain the swollen population of these western neighborhoods”.
Opposition fighters listen to a speech at an armament school after they recaptured the military facility south of Aleppo on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Last month, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham declared it was severing its ties to al-Qaeda in order to build closer ties to other Syrian and rebel and jihadist groups. “It is however an important battle, the result of which will set the course of the conflict”, said Syria expert Thomas Pierret.
Residents of both sides of the city have been living in fear of competing sieges of their neighborhoods in recent weeks.
Mr Pierret said a rebel win would confine the regime to an arc of territory between the western coastal areas and the Golan Heights, while a regime victory could lead to the “collapse” of the rebel insurgency.
More than 290,000 people – including over 84,000 civilians – have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, the Observatory said in a new toll Monday.
Syrian government officials meanwhile sought to reassure residents of Aleppo’s government-controlled western quarters that access has not been cut to the city and supplies are still arriving through an alternative route.
Overnight, regime forces brought in dozens of lorries carrying food and fuel into the western neighbourhoods via the northern Castello Road, according to the Observatory.
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Worldwide efforts to resolve the conflict have repeatedly failed, although the United Nations is hoping that peace talks can resume later this month.
