Syrian opposition forces on Friday gained control of strategic points in one of the regime-controlled neighborhoods of Aleppo, after launching a large-scale offensive in the regime stronghold region.
The operation includes a number of Syrian opposition forces, including the Damascus Front, al-Nusra Front and Ansar al-Sharia. Fierce clashes took place between opposition and regime forces in the Jamiat al-Zahra region, local activist Mustafa Sultan told the state-run Anadolu Agency. "A tank and many military vehicles belonging to regime forces were destroyed in the region," Sultan said, adding that Syrian army warplanes had also attacked the area. Rayid Yasir Abdurrahman, a commander of one of the opposition groups, said that the regime had lost many soldiers in Jamiat al-Zahra and added that the opposition's aim was to take full control of the city.
"This is the heaviest attack by rebel forces Aleppo has witnessed in two years, as more than 400 shells fell on regime-held areas in Aleppo," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told dpa.
The heavy shelling targeted mainly regime-held areas like al-Zahraa, Khalidiyeh, Ashrafiyeh and al-Nile Street. Coinciding with the heavy shelling, rebel fighters attacked from several fronts in the al-Zharaa neighborhood, Chihan and al-Qalaa region in the old city of Aleppo.
In retaliation, Syrian regime planes bombed the area of the clashes and rebel-held areas in Hritan in the northern outskirts of Aleppo. Fighting in Aleppo erupted in mid-2012 and control of the city has since been divided between rebels and the regime.
Analyst Firas Abi Ali, at IHS Country Risk, told dpa that losing Aleppo "is very costly domestically" for the regime, "but the city has lost its strategic value from a strictly military point of view."
