Syrian opposition steps up attacks to break Assad's siege in Aleppo
Syrian opposition Sunday intensified an offensive they started this week against the Bashar al-Assad's forces in Aleppo with the aim of breaking the Assad's siege on an opposition enclave in the divided northern city, a monitoring group said. The opposition fired dozens of rockets on regime areas in the western section of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian opposition forces have made progress in the ongoing operation. Opposition fighters have captured the Assad suburb on Aleppo's western entrance and seized buildings in al-Hamdaniya district, becoming 3 kilometers away from Aleppo's city center, according to local sources.
Opposition forces are now stationed a few hundred meters away from the military academy, a stronghold of regime forces and allied militiamen in western Aleppo. "Our campaign aims to break the siege on Aleppo and our forces seek to enter regime-ruled neighborhoods in the city," opposition commander Ammar Saqar told Anadolu Agency. He said opposition forces have seized bastions of Assad's forces in western Aleppo on the first day of the operation, which began on Friday. "The bad weather has hampered the aerial bombardments of our forces by the Syrian regime," he said.
Without elaborating, Saqar said opposition forces have taken "precautionary measures" to reduce the impact of regime airstrikes. He said that the Syrian opposition was "fighting super powers like Russia and Iran as well as sectarian militias that came from all over the world".
Baraa al-Shami, a spokesman for al-Sham Front, said the first phase of the military operation has achieved its goals. "We have broken into the first defense lines of the Syrian regime and allied militias," he said. "The second phase of the operation will start soon," he said, declining to give details.
Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, has become the top strategic point that will determine Syria's fate, as opposition groups in and around Aleppo have been preparing to launch a counter-offensive to try and break Assad's suffocating siege off Aleppo's eastern-held neighborhoods for several weeks.
The area has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian regime warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks according to opposition activists and trapped residents.
Aleppo is the focal point of the six-year war in Syria. Assad has said he is determined to retake the country's largest city and former commercial capital. The Assad forces have maintained a siege on the opposition-held eastern quarters since September. The UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped inside with dwindling supplies of food and medicine.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests erupting as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings with unexpected ferocity. Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-torn country, according to UN figures.
Syrian opposition forces have made progress in the ongoing operation. Opposition fighters have captured the Assad suburb on Aleppo's western entrance and seized buildings in al-Hamdaniya district, becoming 3 kilometers away from Aleppo's city center, according to local sources.
Opposition forces are now stationed a few hundred meters away from the military academy, a stronghold of regime forces and allied militiamen in western Aleppo. "Our campaign aims to break the siege on Aleppo and our forces seek to enter regime-ruled neighborhoods in the city," opposition commander Ammar Saqar told Anadolu Agency. He said opposition forces have seized bastions of Assad's forces in western Aleppo on the first day of the operation, which began on Friday. "The bad weather has hampered the aerial bombardments of our forces by the Syrian regime," he said.
Without elaborating, Saqar said opposition forces have taken "precautionary measures" to reduce the impact of regime airstrikes. He said that the Syrian opposition was "fighting super powers like Russia and Iran as well as sectarian militias that came from all over the world".
Baraa al-Shami, a spokesman for al-Sham Front, said the first phase of the military operation has achieved its goals. "We have broken into the first defense lines of the Syrian regime and allied militias," he said. "The second phase of the operation will start soon," he said, declining to give details.
Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, has become the top strategic point that will determine Syria's fate, as opposition groups in and around Aleppo have been preparing to launch a counter-offensive to try and break Assad's suffocating siege off Aleppo's eastern-held neighborhoods for several weeks.
The area has been subjected to a ferocious campaign of aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian regime warplanes, and hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks according to opposition activists and trapped residents.
Aleppo is the focal point of the six-year war in Syria. Assad has said he is determined to retake the country's largest city and former commercial capital. The Assad forces have maintained a siege on the opposition-held eastern quarters since September. The UN estimates 275,000 people are trapped inside with dwindling supplies of food and medicine.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests erupting as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings with unexpected ferocity. Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-torn country, according to UN figures.