“Both sides are amassing their fighters in preparation for the great battle of Aleppo”, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
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Aleppo governor Mohammad Olabi said at least 10 fuel tankers were able to reach the government side of the city.
AFP told, the western districts of Aleppo are now besieged, but no any route is safe to go in or out for civilians in government-held districts.
The rebel advance in the Ramouseh district now threatens a major highway linking the government-controlled part of Aleppo to the outside world, leaving an estimated population of 1.2 million at risk of losing a supply line. “But this readiness, this seriousness, has to be shown in terms of actions, not only in terms of words”, he said.
Those trapped inside the besieged part of the city – which includes up to 90,000 of whom are children, according to the World Health Organization – face a humanitarian crisis, with acute shortages of food and medicine, the United Nations has said.
Part of the strategy was to use a siege to starve the city, and then allow people to leave at the appropriate time.
On Sunday, government-loyal media denied that the siege had been broken but did say that their forces were on the defensive. The agency reports that government troops had inflicted “heavy losses” on rebel groups in the fighting raging in the south and southwest of the city.
Much of it has been destroyed or looted during more than five years of war.
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.
A military officer says that trucks with food also entered the city, divided between government and rebel control, earlier in the day.
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.
“The worst method the regime uses is not chemical weapons but it is the sieges, the slow death”, Abu Bakr said, speaking via Skype from the frontline.
The “Army of Conquest”, a coalition of rebels and jihadists including the former Al-Nusra Front, said in a statement it would “double the number of fighters for this next battle”.
Citing a source on the ground, the newspaper said military warplanes “are carrying out a barrage of air strikes targeting the armed groups”.
If Manbij is captured, it would be the biggest strategic defeat for Isis in Syria since July previous year, when it lost the border town of Tal Abyad.
“Very clearly. what’s happening there is a war crime by all means”, he said.
An official from Syrian Civil Defense, a voluntary search-and-rescue group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that this was the case, adding that many residents wanted to leave eastern Aleppo once a secure road out was opened.
The United States and allies began bombing Daesh militants in Syria almost two years ago, while Russian Federation began air strikes in support of Assad a year ago.
Phosphorus bombs, which can cause serious chemical burns, are controversial but not banned by any treaty.
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The key northern province of Aleppo is a microcosm of Syria’s chaotic multi-front war that has killed more than 500,000 people.
