Syrian government launches Aleppo ground attack
Army, allies assault along several fronts • Hezbollah said to see no political way out of war
BEIRUT/DUBAI (Reuters) – Syrian government forces and their allies attacked the opposition-held sector of Aleppo on several fronts on Tuesday, the biggest ground assault yet in a massive military campaign that has destroyed a US-backed cease-fire.
The United States says the assault on Aleppo is proof that President Bashar Assad and his Russian and regional allies have abandoned an international peace process in order to pursue victory on the battlefield after nearly six years of civil war.
Washington, which negotiated a cease-fire with Russia this month that collapsed after a week, says Moscow and Damascus are guilty of “barbarism” and war crimes for targeting civilians, health workers and aid deliveries in air strikes.
More than 250,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, where intensive bombing over the past week has killed hundreds of people, many trapped under buildings brought down by bunker-busting bombs.
Only about 30 doctors are left in the city, coping with hundreds of wounded each day who are being treated on the floors of hospitals that are bereft of supplies.
Tuesday’s assault saw pro-government forces, which include the Syrian army and allied groups from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, attempt to attack Aleppo’s Old City near its historic citadel, as well as around several of the city’s major access points.
Troops advanced from the countryside to the north and south, rebels said, leading to intense clashes. The military and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army had made some gains, but this was disputed by rebels who said they had held them off.
Senior combatants on both sides said pro-government forces were massing in several parts of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the war, now divided into a western zone held by the army and a smaller, besieged area held by rebels.
The commander of an Iraqi Shi’ite group fighting in support of Assad said a large force spearheaded by the army’s elite “Nimr,” or Tiger, forces had started to move in armored vehicles and tanks for an attack on rebel-held areas.
Quelling the uprising in the city would give Assad his biggest victory yet of the war and deliver a powerful blow to his enemies.
It is far from clear whether an all-out attempt to storm the rebel-held area is planned soon. It would require a massive assault by the army, backed by Lebanese and Iraqi Shi’ite groups, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Russian air power.
The government’s strategy in other locations such as Damascus and Homs has been to use years of siege and bombardment to force eventual surrender, rather than attempting to storm well-defended territory.
However, Assad’s allies now openly say they have abandoned the peace process and are betting instead on military victory.
The head of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, was quoted on Tuesday as saying Aleppo’s fate would be determined only “through a forceful confrontation.”
At the same time, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed that his country would continue to back Syria in its fight against “terrorism,” the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
“Iran will continue helping Syria in the fight against terrorism and towards establishing security in the region,” Rouhani told the visiting Syrian parliament speaker Hadiyeh al-Abbas, the agency said.
Aleppo residents said ferocious air attacks of previous nights had abated somewhat. The Observatory said at least 11 people were killed in air strikes on Tuesday in two Aleppo neighborhoods.
State television reported that the army had retaken al-Farafra district in Aleppo’s Old City and engineering units were clearing mines in the area.
A senior rebel source said the army had taken some positions near that area, but had been forced to withdraw. Neither assertion could be independently confirmed. The army had also been repelled after heavy fighting in assaults on four other fronts, he said, describing it as the biggest wave of ground attacks since the offensive was announced last week.
Zakaria Malahifji, a politburo member of the Fastaqim rebel group which is active in Aleppo, said the army had assembled infantry and heavy vehicles in a military buildup in the city.
“Until today, thank God, attempts to advance have been blocked,” he added.
The senior rebel official said pro-government forces were mobilizing near the rebel-held Sheikh Saeed district on the city’s southern outskirts, near the location of the heaviest fighting this summer in Aleppo.
“They are working to expand on any opening they create,” said the official from an Aleppo-based rebel faction, citing reports from his fighters.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said on Tuesday there was no foreseeable political solution for Syria, and that the conflict was becoming more complicated as tension mounted between the United States and Russia, the Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
“There are no prospects for political solutions... the final word is for the battlefield,” the pro-Hezbollah newspaper’s website quoted leader Hassan Nasrallah as saying.
“The situation is becoming increasingly complicated especially after the US-Russian tension and the continued crisis of trust between the two sides,” he said. Hezbollah supports Assad.