Syrian regime forces have repelled a fierce assault by opposition fighters seeking to reopen their only supply route into Aleppo city, killing at least 29 rebels, a monitor said Sunday.
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SYRIAN government forces took a step towards completely encircling rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Thursday, capturing ground overlooking the only road into the opposition half of the city and effectively besieging the area.
The battle for control of Syria’s largest city has been ongoing for four years and the scale of destruction in Aleppo is massive.
It has now been broken up into rebel and government-held sectors.
Before the Syrian Civil War, Aleppo was the industrial and financial capital of Syria.
Around 40 people were also wounded in the strikes on the town of Darkush, near the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts of Aleppo from its countryside, striking the economic nerves of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels for undeclared interests in Aleppo.
On Thursday, the second day of a government-announced three-day ceasefire, regime forces advanced in the al-Malah Farms area of northwest Aleppo, closing in on the Castello road.
It wasn’t clear whether it was Syrian or Russian warplanes that carried out the airstrikes on Darkoush.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday had welcomed the Syrian army’s announcement of the truce, adding that discussions were underway to try to extend it.
Russian Federation launched air strikes in support of the Damascus regime in September, one year after the global coalition bombing the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Iraq extended its raids to Syria.
“This is a fake ceasefire”, said Mahmoud al-Shami, an activist based in Aleppo.
The Syrian military action in Aleppo will cause even more death, displacement and refugees, the statement said.
Malahifji said there was only a small Nusra Front presence in Aleppo.
Rebel groups remain defiant and are fighting back.
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The nationwide ceasefire was initially established for 72 hours on Tuesday, the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr, Xinhua news agency cited the report.
