adminOn the second day of an offensive they have billed as decisive, the rebels also threatened to take on local Kurdish militants — a move which would further complicate a war that has already spilled over Syria’s borders.
Fighters reached by telephone from Beirut described fierce combat in several neighbourhoods of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub and the site of a two-month-long stalemate in the conflict.
Armed with machineguns and homemade rockets, they said they faced a difficult task against an enemy hitting them with artillery and fighter jets.
“We reached the middle of Suleiman al-Halibiya and liberated some neighbourhoods so I am still optimistic. But I’m worried about our organisation. We can’t force the regime out. At best, I think we can advance some of our positions,” one fighter said, requesting anonymity.
Other rebels told Reuters that one of the units fighting in the city had been surrounded. Another said some battalions were pulling out of the front line or had never joined the battle.
Rebels from the rural parts of northern Syria had flooded into Aleppo two months ago but were held back by shortages of ammunition and the army’s superior firepower.
Aleppo is pivotal to the course of the conflict, in which at least 30 000 people have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in February last year.
World powers have watched the carnage with dismay but have been unable to agree on a way to resolve the crisis, which threatens to destablise the wider region.
Neither side appears capable of striking a decisive military blow, although a rebel bomb attack wrecked the army’s command headquarters in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, showing their growing reach.
Though the rebels claimed no major gains in Aleppo, government forces appeared to be coming under heavy attack in some quarters. — Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter