Government and Russian airstrikes and artillery bombardment of opposition neighborhoods and the outskirts of the city Saturday killed 46 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, and another nine were killed by opposition shelling in government-held areas.
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The Islamic state group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that struck a bus transporting rebels through a border crossing between Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province and Turkey, killing more than 30 fighters. It has become the focal point of the war, encapsulating the bloody stalemate of Syria’s conflict, now in its sixth year.
A media activist in the province who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said some 200 rebels from various factions are based near Atmeh and regularly bring in weapons through the crossing.
Rebel forces took control of Ramussa on 6 August, after a siege lasting almost three weeks.
Emboldened by the win, the Army of Conquest announced an ambitious bid to capture all of Aleppo, which if successful would be the biggest opposition victory yet in Syria’s conflict.
The rebel assault targeted key army positions at a cement factory southwest of Aleppo.
Increased fighting in and around the city has raised deep concerns for around 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including an estimated 250,000 in rebel-controlled areas.
The defence ministry in Moscow said Sunday six long-range bombers from Russian Federation had struck around Deir Ezzor, a stronghold of the Islamic State group in Syria.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the “Arab Spring” uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.
As usual, however, it’s the civilian bystanders taking the brunt of the casualties.
On Sunday, the SDF said they had established a military council to push IS fighters out of Al-Bab, the alliance’s next target in the same province.
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Ghina Quwayder’s leg was shattered when she was shot by a government sniper in the southwestern town this month while buying medicine for her mother, Amnesty International said.
