Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or
Army of Conquest) brigades manoeuver a
T-55 tank as they take part in a major assault
on Syrian government forces West of Aleppo
city on October 28, 2016. Syrian opposition
fighters launched a major assault on
government forces to break a months-long
siege of rebel-held neighbourhoods of the
battered city of Aleppo. Rebel groups
including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction
and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham
Front fired waves of rockets into government-
held western Aleppo, killing at least 15
civilians, a monitor said. The rebels also
targeted government positions east of Aleppo
city and in the coastal province of Latakia.
Omar haj kadour / AFP
Syria’s regime and rebels were locked in
fierce fighting Sunday on Aleppo’s western
edges, where 38 civilians have been killed
in a two-day opposition offensive to break
the government siege.
Rebels and allied jihadists launched a major
offensive on Friday to break through
government lines and reach the 250,000
people living in the city’s east.
Since then, they have unleashed a salvo of
rockets, artillery shells, and car bombs
around the western government-controlled
districts.
Syria’s second city, Aleppo has been
devastated by some of the heaviest fighting
of the country’s five-year civil war, which
has killed more than 300,000 people.
Much of the once-bustling economic hub
has been reduced to rubble by air and
artillery bombardment, including barrel
bombs — crude unguided explosive devices
that cause indiscriminate damage.
“Rebel fighters have launched hundreds of
rockets and shells onto the western districts
from positions inside the city and on its
western edges,” said Rami Abdel Rahman,
head of the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights.
Two days of such heavy rebel bombardment
have killed 38 civilians, including 14
children, and wounded another 250.
Fighting has also killed 30 regime and
allied fighters, as well as 50 Syrian rebels,
according to the Observatory.
The monitor did not have an immediate
death toll for foreign anti-regime fighters,
many of whom have joined jihadist
factions.
About 1,500 rebels have massed on a 15-
kilometre front along the western edges of
Aleppo since Friday, scoring quick gains in
the Dahiyet al-Assad district but struggling
to push east since then.
“The advance will be from Dahiyet al-Assad
towards Hamdaniyeh,” said Yasser al-
Youssef of the Noureddin al-Zinki rebel
faction.
Hamdaniyeh is a regime-held district
directly adjacent to opposition-controlled
eastern neighbourhoods.
Missiles, car bombs
Fighting lasted all night and into Sunday,
with air strikes and artillery fire along the
western battlefronts heard even in the
eastern districts, an AFP correspondent
there said.
Plumes of smoke could be seen snaking up
from the city’s skyline.
A pro-regime military source told AFP that
the rebel assault was “massive and
coordinated” but insisted it was unable to
break into any neighbourhoods besides
Dahiyet al-Assad.
“They’re using Grad missiles and car bombs
and are supported by foreign fighters in
their ranks,” he said.
Those waging the assault include Aleppo
rebels and reinforcements from Idlib
province to the west, among them the
jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, which
changed its name from Al-Nusra Front after
breaking ties with Al-Qaeda.
Aleppo’s front line runs through the heart
of the city, dividing rebels in the east from
government troops in the west.
In late September, government troops
launched their own assault to recapture all
of the eastern rebel-controlled territory.
It was backed by fierce air strikes from
Russia, which launched its own air war in
2015 to back President Bashar al-Assad’s
forces.
That onslaught spurred massive
international criticism of both Moscow and
Damascus.
Last week, Russia implemented a three-day
“humanitarian pause” intended to allow
civilians and surrendering rebels to leave
Aleppo’s east, but few did so.
Moscow says it will continue a halt on air
strikes over Aleppo, in place since October
18.
The Russian military said Friday it had
asked President Vladimir Putin for
authorisation to resume the raids.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
Putin “considers it inappropriate at the
current moment”, adding that the president
thought it necessary to “continue the
humanitarian pause” in Aleppo.
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