Syrian regime forces redeployed yesterday to escape being surrounded in neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo, scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the civil war.
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The Observatory, in its report on the Aleppo fighting, said opposition groups had taken control of the Weaponry College, the main Artillery College, the Air Force Technical College and the Ramousah Garage area.
Aleppo had always been an opposition stronghold until Russian Federation entered the Syrian war a year ago to prop-up the embattled regime of autocrat leader Bashar al Assad.
Citing U.N. figures, Power said Syrian government forces were to blame for almost 80 percent of the besieged areas throughout Syria.
An opposition fighter said, Agitator brought seven trucks of fruits and vegetables into the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been under government blockade since 17 July.
Reinforcements were also arriving from Iraq via Iran from the Iraq-based Hizbollah Brigades, Asaib Ahl Al Haq and Al Nujaba militias. The Hezbollah Brigades have deployed some 1,000 fighters on Sunday, an official said.
“The western districts of Aleppo are now besieged”.
Last month, the Syrian government seized the Castillo road, the only route into opposition-held areas in northern Aleppo, prompting a opposition counteroffensive from the city’s south to attempt to break the siege.
Al-Abdah said after breaking the siege, the rebels were now moving on to a “new stage” that involves liberating the entire city, while a commander of the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham rebel faction, Hossam Abu Bakr, said the fighters were regrouping.
They then pushed northeast to link up with rebel groups inside the city.
Syrian opposition fighters drive a tank on the outskirts of Aleppo.
He said it is expected the government and allied troops will fight back, but added rebels will protect their hold on the strategic corridor which would allow for a new lifeline for the rebel-controlled part of Aleppo, in the east and north.
The group rebranded itself by declaring it was breaking its long-standing ties with al Qaeda to build closer alliances with other jihadist and rebel groups in Syria. “It is however an important battle, the result of which will set the course of the conflict”, said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh. He said fighter jets were targeting all vehicles that try to enter the area through the new route carved out by rebels last weekend.
“The propaganda and the emotional rhetoric, the unfounded accusations, the information campaign, means that we can not move toward a political settlement in Syria”, Safronkov said.
“Despite more than 600 Russian strikes, the regime forces were not able to hold on to their positions”, he said.
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According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced almost half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
