Rebels move to break Aleppo siege
Syrian army claims it has repelled large-scale offensive
BEIRUT— Fierce fighting broke out around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday as rebels announced a largescale offensive to break the government’s nearly two-month siege of opposition-held areas.
A reporter inside the city on the pro-government Lebanon-based AlMayadeen TV channel reported attacks on “all sides” of the city, “from the furthest points north to furthest south.”
Sounds of heavy gunfire, mortar fire and explosions were heard in the background of his broadcast. Dark smoke was seen rising above the city on the overcast morning. Presumed government or Russian jets were also heard flying overhead.
Rebel factions in and around Aleppo have been preparing to launch a counteroffensive to try to break the government’s suffocating siege of Aleppo’s eastern-held neighbourhoods for several weeks.
The area has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks, according to opposition activists and trapped residents.
The Syrian army said in a statement that troops repelled rebel attacks on all fronts in Aleppo and inflicted human losses among the attackers.
The army said the rebel attack concentrated on the suburb west of Aleppo amid intense shelling with artillery and Russian-made Grad rockets.
“The Syrian army and its allies are in control on the ground and armed groups were not able to change the map,” the army statement said. “Fighting is still ongoing but the intensity dropped.”
This is the second attempt by rebels to break the government’s siege. They opened a corridor to the east for the month of August after progovernment forces first applied a blockade in July, but government forces were able to reinstate the siege in early September.
Aleppo is the focal point of the sixyear war. Assad has said he is determined to retake the country’s largest city and former commercial capital. The government has maintained a siege on the rebel-held eastern quarters since September. The UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped inside with dwindling supplies of food and medicine.