Fierce fighting in Aleppo: Govt and rebel forces close in

Published time: July 24, 2012 20:03
Edited time: July 26, 2012 15:54
Syrian rebels hunt for snipers after attacking the municipality building in the Salaheddin district of the northern city of Aleppo during fighting between rebels and Syrian troops on July 23, 2012 (AFP Photo/Bulent Kilic)

Government and rebel reinforcements are converging on the flashpoint Syrian city of Aleppo on the fifth day of brutal clashes. Assad forces are reportedly attempting to regain control of neighborhoods where opposition fighters have gained a foothold.

Thousands of government troops are being transferred to the city in a counteroffensive strike against rebel forces, say the Free Syria Army.

"A large number of troops is being redeployed from Jabal al-Zawiyah to Aleppo, which is strategically more important for the regime than Idlib," Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, the FSA's Military Council spokesman in the city told AFP on Wednesday.

He added that he believes the reinforcements are being deployed because of the intensity of the clashes in the city.

There also have been reports of Assad’s warplanes striking opposition forces in the city.

RT’s correspondent in Syria, Oksana Boyko, confirms intensive fighting in at least four suburbs. Residents of the city have been taking cover all day long with some evacuated from the most dangerous sites, she says. They took refuge in several university campuses.

Officials in Damascus have neither confirmed nor denied the reports that fighter jets were dispatched to Syria’s second largest city. If confirmed, this would be the first time that Syrian war planes have been used in the conflict.

Aleppo had long remained immune to the 17-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. This held true until four days ago when rebels launched a “liberate Aleppo” offensive in the city of three million.

The struggle for Aleppo comes after a six-day rebel assault in Damascus, which culminated in the assassination of four top security officials in a bomb attack last Wednesday.

The international community has thus far been unable to agree on a resolution to the conflict that has wracked the country for the past 17 months. The UN puts the total of those killed at over 15,000.

Comments (75)

stock (unregistered) 03.08.2012 20:51

what is russia doing?why are younot arming syrian govt when the anglosaxon evil england and usa ar eooenly arming the terroris with heavy guns and antiaircraft guns?
wake up russia-you will be next victims if you dontyo destroy anglosaxon england and usa now.
act now to wage world war 3 along with china agasint england and usda-the two main evils.

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stock (unregistered) 03.08.2012 20:41

and why not russia/
why are you so cagy in defending your rights in tartus and in defending your freind and  ally syria/
west atleast supports terroris allys tyo the hilt in syria and ina fganstan of 80s.
why do you stop delivering to syria and iran on slightest pretext on un resolution when west openly acts agasint un resolutions/
wh y do you nt0o have guts to protect your own rights russia?
little wonder you have been inavded so many times because you invite invastion by showing weakness.

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Captain Obvious (unregistered) 26.07.2012 16:22

A.Smith (unregistered) wrote in #11
Assad's troops should flood the rebel hold-outs with Tear Gas then as those USA/Israeli proxy terrorists are flushed out eliminate them. Villagers will quickly learn not to shield nor protect any USA/Israeli proxy terrorists in their homes nor villages and the elders will demand they leave in mass.

Russian and Iranian technicians should help Assad's commanders jam the terrorists communications with their CIA/Mossad/SAS directors and with their terrorist camp inside Turkey.

The Kurdish population in Syria should be told (if they don't already realise) that their lives utterly depend on repeling the USA/Israeli proxy terrorists as they would certainly be killed by them or by USA/NATO troops if Syria fell.

More of a majority of Syria's citizens stand by and support Assad than the majority in Libya, meaning a USA/NATO invasion would deliberately slaughter an enormous number of pro-Assad civilians, even more than the USA spectre gun-ships did with the crowds of pro-Gadhafi civilians.

****************** ******************** ******************** *The rebels are the villagers.   They just go home until assad has to rush off to fight some other rebels in some other village.

Ther e is an event unfolding today that will mark a direction for the future.  I doubt you read propaganda from more than one side, but perhaps you should today.  A small group of Islamicists arrived in Turkey and from north africa and went across the border.  They found an abandoned town in rebel territory and set up a base.  It's all bombed out from Assad so the families (if still alive) won't be coming back from turkey any time soon.  The rebels have not decided what to do yet.  You can watch the discussions and decisions unfold in real time through facebook and twitter.  I think it will have as much significance upon the future as alleppo.  Assad has little chance of winning so the rebels don't really need these foreign jihadists, but they don't want to pour water on the wave of revolution sweeping the region.  Syria today, Sudan tommorow, etc etc.

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