Syrian civil defense volunteers, known as the White Helmets, gather in a street in Aleppo on August 6, 2016, in celebrations after rebels said they have broken a 3-week government siege on Syria’s second city.
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Rebels have taken most of a large government military complex southwest of Aleppo city in a major offensive that begun on Friday, to break a month-long siege and are now attacking further into government held territory.
An AFP correspondent said air raids bombarded rebel-held areas of Aleppo, with the Britain-based Observatory saying the strikes were carried out by Russian and Syrian aircraft.
A quarter of a million civilians are thought to still live in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled eastern neighbourhoods, effectively under siege since the army and allied militia cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July.
Anas al-Abdah, president of the opposition Syrian Coalition, told reporters in Istanbul, Turkey, that the victory – which saw rebel fighters defeat the might of the Syrian regime along with Iranian, Hezbollah and Russian military power – was “almost a miracle”.
Jabhat al-Nusra – which has rebranded itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham after formally splitting from al-Qaeda – posting videos online showing its fighters inside an artillery base and military academy.
Rebels posted footage of their fighters embracing and celebrating the end of the government encirclement, which had been in place since July 17.
The agency said 10 civilians were killed on Saturday in rebel shelling on two government-held districts.
In a separate development, the Syrian Air Force, backed by Russian warplanes, heavily pounded gatherings of Jaish al-Fatah terrorists in Idlib, al-Mansoora, al-Rashideen, and Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo.
Syrian state television said: “Our forces have redeployed after absorbing the attack of thousands of mercenaries, and the army has found a new route to allow food and gas in”.
A western Aleppo resident said supplies had arrived. Mohammed Khandakani, a resident of opposition-held Aleppo who accompanied the fighters to the frontline Saturday, said heavy bombing on the aeronautics school resulted in massive explosions.
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have said conditions in isolated rebel-held east Aleppo have become very concerning.
It said residents could choose to stay and fight, or flee. “The fourth stage saw the Conquest Army’s fighters advancing in a ground operation into the city from the south, seizing the Ramosa neighborhood”. About 500 fighters from both sides have been killed in the fight in Aleppo, the observatory said. He said clashes continued because parts of the Ramouseh district remain in government hands. The strike comes in the wake of the rebels breaking through a Syrian Army siege in Aleppo and successfully seizing several key strategic points including multiple military colleges and artillery bases.
Taking control of Ramousah and linking up with eastern Aleppo would isolate government-held western Aleppo by cutting the southern route out toward the capital Damascus.
“To be able to break these forces and liberate the siege and now be in a stage we we are talking about liberating the city is miraculous in every way”, he said Monday.
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Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.
