Syrian rebels are vowing to retake the entire city of Aleppo after claiming to have broken a crippling government siege, in a victory that an opposition leader has hailed as “almost a miracle”.
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They then pushed northeast into the district of Ramussa, linking up with rebel groups that had fought south from inside the city.
(“29-Jul-16 World View – Syria’s Al-Nusra splits with al-Qaeda, becoming Jabhat Fateh al-Sham”) Many anti-Assad groups didn’t want to be linked to al-Qaeda, and were demanding that Jabhat al-Nusra split with al-Qaeda before any coalition could be formed. The group had announced it is breaking ties with the global terror network a week earlier, citing improved coordination with other opposition groups as a motive.
The LCF posted pictures of loot from the artillery school, including armoured vehicles and ammunition.
Another rebel said the militants were not able to storm the heavily fortified camp where large sand barriers have been erected to prevent such incursions and attacks in an area where the militants operate with hit and run attacks.
The rebels launched their offensive in July, two weeks after the regime-backed by Russian airstrikes and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah-cut off the sole supply line leading into eastern Aleppo’s opposition-controlled neighborhoods.
A convoy of rebel pick-up trucks entered the city’s opposition areas through a newly-opened route on Sunday, bringing food aid for some of the 300,000 residents who had been trapped inside. The government and major ally Russian Federation had offered corridors for residents to leave opposition-held areas, an offer met with skepticism from the locals who viewed it as an attempt to depopulate the area.
But their advance now puts the estimated 1.2 million living in government-held districts of the city under opposition encirclement, he added. The Castillo road remains under government control but activists say it regularly comes under fire.
“Both sides are amassing their fighters in preparation for the great battle of Aleppo”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory.
A witness said people in the streets of a part of eastern Aleppo briefly celebrated reports of the siege being broken before the sight of warplanes in the sky scattered them. Strikes near Palmyra and Arak destroyed command posts, an underground cache of weapons and ammunition, three infantry fighting vehicles, 12 off-road vehicles with heavy machine guns and a “large amount of enemy manpower”. He said clashes continued because parts of the Ramouseh district remain in government hands.
Aug 8, 2016- Rebel factions who claim to have made gains in Syria’s city of Aleppo have come under intense air strikes from pro-government forces. Basic supplies such as fuel, bread and vegetables were already in short supply on Sunday, they said.
Even with a victory at Aleppo, though, Assad would face an insurgency not unlike what the Americans encountered in Iraq a decade ago, according to Ford, the former US ambassador.
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Three vans of vegetables crossed into east Aleppo, Abdel Rahman said, but this was a symbolic gesture and the corridor was too risky for civilians or significant supplies to pass. A medical charity said July was the worst month for attacks on hospitals in the war-ravaged country.
