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Fighting in Syria’s Aleppo after siege broken: monitor

But state television said late Saturday the army had regained control of several key points in a military complex that rebels overran earlier.

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The group’s fighters surged through regime territory on Saturday, breaking a three-week government siege in a major setback for the regime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that rebels in Sheikh Saeed district in the south of Aleppo had linked up with other insurgents in part of Ramussa but stressed that the rest of that area was still in regime hands.

Rebel forces in Syria claim they have broken through a long-running siege of Aleppo.

The group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, last month distanced itself from parent organisation al-Qaeda in a move meant to bring it closer with other rebels.

On Sunday, rebel forces brought seven pick-up trucks full of fruit and vegetables into eastern districts of Aleppo to be distributed to local markets, an opposition fighter said.

“There are intermittent clashes and air strikes, but to a lesser degree”, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. July was the worst month yet for attacks on medical facilities in the war-torn country, a medical charity said, with 43 recorded attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria.

In doing so, the rebels could reverse the situation in Syria’s largest city. Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes operate in Syria but it was not known which aircraft carried out the strike. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to reporters.

According to Ahmad Ramadan, an opposition spokesman most of the Syrian regime troops fled after the attack by the rebels and Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard fighters found themselves alone in the battle.

“I think the Syrian army will have to rebuild Syria and they will end up by deciding its future”. Alloush said the rebel groups put in massive efforts and ammunition into the battle, adding that his group- which is strongest near Damascus- had mobilized fighters from five neighboring provinces to take part.

The rebels broke the siege on Saturday after Syrian government forces last month cut the Castello Road – the only remaining route into rebel-held held eastern Aleppo, which is home to an estimated 250,000 civilians.

“This is the final blow to the initial United States policy meant to support the moderate opposition in Syria”, Michael Horowitz, analyst at the Levantine Group, told the Telegraph.

“We assure the people of Aleppo that whoever enters his home is safe, whoever enters a mosque or a church is safe and whoever lays down his weapon is safe, too”, said a statement released by numerous factions fighting in the city, including some allied with the Free Syrian Army, the USA -backed moderate opposition coalition.

Residents on both side of the city are suffering.

However the rebels have been unable to secure exit corridors for people trapped in besieged areas, due to intensive Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes on the area, the observatory said.

“We are facing a new wave…of projects of war against Syria which are being waged in northern Syria, particularly in the Aleppo region”.

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He confirmed that it will take only hours to liberate eastern areas and rebels have crossed halfway through liberating the whole city.

Syrian civil defence volunteers known