admin“We have regained full control of Hanano,” the officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The Hanano area constitutes a number of residential blocs, several military barracks and a recruitment division.
According to previous activists’ reports, the armed opposition fighters had surrounded the barracks and taken over the recruitment division in addition to a secrete prison there. They claim that around 350 detainees had been freed by the rebels.
However, sources said that the army had unleashed its firepower to regain control of the area.
Earlier in the day, a Syrian pro-government daily said that the army was poised for a wide-scale offensive in eastern Aleppo city.
The al-Watan daily said the army had clashed with opposition fighters in Aleppo city over the past 24 hours as a prelude for a wider-scale operation in the eastern parts of the battered city “after the decision had been made for a military showdown there.”
The paper said the army had moved units toward Aleppo’s eastern district of Sakhour, which is expected to witness the beginning of the wide-scale operation in eastern part of the city.
In separate accounts, the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said that the Aleppo districts of Qadi Askar and al-Yassir were shelled yesterday by a Syrian fighter jet, adding that the southern districts of the capital Damascus, such as Tadamun, Hajar al-Aswad and the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk had also come under artillery shells. The claim couldn’t be checked independently.
Meanwhile, Syria’s state news agency SANA said the death toll of the blast that struck Aleppo overnight on Sunday has climbed to 30, while the number of the wounded hit more than 60.
The blast rocked the Malaab al-Baladi area in Aleppo, a district grouping three hospitals and a school, sheltering displaced people. The state media said people have been buried under the pile of rubbles and debris.
The state-TV aired live coverage of the site, showing scenes of carnage and huge destruction.
The Lebanese NBN TV, meanwhile, said the car bomb ripped through a military checkpoint in the same area.
Aleppo has emerged as a stage for pitched battles between government troops and armed rebels, who pledged to keep fighting in Aleppo to subdue it. —Xinhua.
Online Reporter