Syrian National Coalition chief Anas al-Abdeh, in an interview with AFP, also praised a new-found unity among opposition factions that has seen the Fateh al-Sham Front – which used to have ties with Al-Qaeda – join forces with other rebels in the battle for Aleppo.
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Syrian regime forces were on the defensive around Aleppo yesterday after a rebel alliance said it had inflicted a major setback by breaking a three-week government siege of the battered city.
Syria’s biggest city is in danger of becoming a slaughterhouse.
Aleppo Governor Mohammad Olabi reassured the 1.5 million residents in the government-held west of the city that vital supplies would continue to reach them despite the LCF advance cutting the main supply route.
The observatory’s Abdel Rahman said the route into eastern districts is open only to fighters.
USA weapons such as TOW anti-tank missiles continue to go to these al-Qaeda fighters, along with Saudi-supplied weapons, although the New York Times reports today that this flow has slowed in recent weeks as supply roads have been cut by Syrian Army and allied forces. “The military operation to destroy terrorists and mercenaries is continuing and the Syrian army is determined to defeat the enemy on the way to Aleppo”, he said.
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. Pro-Syrian government news channels have mostly played down the opposition groups’ gains and say Syrian army efforts have caused opposition groups to withdraw from some recently-gained areas.
With Aleppo’s civilians, including hundreds of thousands of women and children, being bombed indiscriminately by the regime of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and by Russia’s warplanes, sending missiles into schools and hospitals, dropping barrel bombs laden with metal and chemical weapons on civilian neighborhoods, the people are using any method they can to protect themselves.
Battles rage across Aleppo as Assad regime fights to quell rebels was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 09, 2016 and was last updated on August 09, 2016.
The greatest beneficiaries of the rebel victory may be Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front).
Cheers. Aleppo’s 300,000 civilians have endured weeks of Russian bombing Fighters. “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.
This has left the city divided – there was celebration in the eastern districts and fears of food and fuel shortages in the western areas, which are still controlled by the regime.
The army and its allies made the aid delivery via the Castello Road, which extends into Aleppo from the north, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“This is the new route that the regime forces are securing as a temporary alternative to the route they previously depended on”, Mr Abdel Rahman said.
More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, the Observatory said in a new toll on Monday.
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A coalition air strike Sunday destroyed 83 oil tankers used by ISIS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the United States military said.
