Syria rebels brace for decisive battle in Aleppo

[Darth Vader]

Rebel forces were bracing Friday for a decisive “mother of all” battles in Aleppo, as Washington warned the Syrian army could be preparing to carry out a massacre in the country’s second city.
The Syrian army has been sending waves of reinforcements towards the northern city, and a security source told AFP the offensive feared by the rebels could come as early as Friday.
“The special forces were deployed on Wednesday and Thursday on the edges of the city, and more troops have arrived to take part in a generalised counter-offensive on Friday or Saturday,” the security source said of Aleppo.
Fighting raged in Aleppo on Thursday as clashes also shook parts of Damascus and other areas, with at least 121 people reported killed — 64 civilians, 32 regime troops and 25 rebels.
Rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime also brought in reinforcements, with the source estimating that between 1,500 and 2,000 opposition fighters had arrived from outside Syria’s most populous city to reinforce some 2,000 already fighting inside Aleppo.
“They are mainly present in the southern and eastern suburbs of the city, mainly Salaheddin and nearby districts,” he said.
The airport was cut off from the city, as four of the five roads leading to it were under rebel control, he added.
Rebels also said a regime assault appeared imminent.
“The army’s reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo,” Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), told AFP via Skype.
“We expect a major offensive at any time, specifically on areas across the southern belt, from east to west.”
Okaidi added that some 100 tanks and a large number of military vehicles had arrived in the country’s commercial hub.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that regime forces pounded the Salaheddin neighbourhood in the south and Jazamati in the east.
On July 20 the rebels launched an all-out assault to overrun Aleppo, a move analysts say is aimed at establishing a bastion close to the rebel military headquarters in neighbouring Turkey.
The newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the regime, led on Thursday with the headline “Aleppo, the mother of all battles,” adding that “the army continues to chase terrorists in the outskirts of Damascus and the province”.
Citing an Arab diplomatic source, it added: “Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and after that Syria will emerge from the crisis.”
Washington warned that the Syrian regime may be preparing to carry out a massacre in the city.
“This is the concern, that we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that’s what the regime appears to be lining up for,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
“Our hearts are with the people of Aleppo. And again, this is another desperate attempt by a regime that is going down to try to maintain control, and we are greatly concerned about what they are capable of in Aleppo.”
But she stuck to the US position of only providing non-lethal assistance to the opposition rebels who have been fighting for 16 months to topple Assad.
“We do not believe that pouring more fuel on this fire is going to save lives. We are working in non-lethal ways. We are working to support the Syrian opposition,” the spokeswoman told journalists.
As UN heritage agency UNESCO called for forces fighting in Syria to avoid damaging cultural sites, in particular in world heritage site Aleppo, UN chief peacekeeper Herve Ladsous said there was “no plan B”.
“There is one political process for the time being, that is the six-point plan of the joint special envoy Kofi Annan,” he told reporters in Damascus.
“And as you know, and has been said time and again, there is no plan B. There is no alternative to that.”
Annan’s plan called for an inclusive political process, a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, release of detainees, freedom of movement for journalists and peaceful demonstrations to be allowed.
“Syrians killing Syrians is something that should not continue,” Ladsous added.
Clashes also erupted in and around southern Damascus, with five children among 16 people killed when a village outside the capital was shelled while fighting rocked the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, the Observatory and witnesses said.
Regime helicopters also strafed targets in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighbourhood, activists and residents said.
“Last night was quiet but people woke up to the sound of explosions and shelling from seven o’clock in the morning,” an activist calling himself Abu Qais al-Shami told AFP.
After a week of heavy clashes, activists say regime forces have largely regained control of Damascus, with just a few pockets of resistance remaining.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday Assad’s regime was bound to fall.
“I’m confident that sooner or later, Bashar will fall,” he said at a Warsaw news conference, describing the actions of the regime as “abominable behaviour”.
Meanwhile, Israel on Thursday boosted security along its ceasefire line with Syria in the occupied Golan Heights, an Israeli source said on condition of anonymity.
Syria’s foreign ministry confirmed the defection of three diplomats, but downplayed their importance and indirectly accused Qatar — where they reportedly fled — of encouraging “national division”.
It named them as Lamia Hariri, charge d’affaires in Cyprus, her husband Abdel Latif al-Dabbagh, ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Mohammed Tahsin al-Fakir, security attache in Oman.
A European Commission aid expert said on Thursday the humanitarian situation in Syria had taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
“It’s like running behind a train that constantly keeps accelerating,” said the official, adding that more funds were needed to assist refugees fleeing to neighbouring Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
Tens of thousands of people have fled Syria to escape the violence which the Observatory says has killed more than 19,000 people since mid-March 2011.

 

[forcetrip]

This will be an important battle to follow. If the syrian army is smart they will cut off rear supplies before launching an attack. Probably easier said than done.

 

[conan008]

This will be an important battle to follow. If the syrian army is smart they will cut off rear supplies before launching an attack. Probably easier said than done.

admirable analysis

 

[Darth Vader]

else they send small number of soldiers in small compny and when rebels think they are winning they better start retreat and when these rebels attack with full force cut their supply divide with air force that and keep pounding them and then over run them with tanks when they are out of city cz else it will be much harder for troops to and heavy tanks to fight a urban warfare then that will be a mass murder of these flthy rebels

 

[United]

On the other side Turkish troops are massing on Syrian border with missile batteries.

 

[Hack-Hook]

its a contained war in one or two small district in alepo , the rebels take shelter in tne houses that they take by force force from the people and have connected that houses with tunnel if I was cordinated the attack against them first would have found the houses and then destroyed them on tne head of the rebels with artillery and airforce and after burig the terrorists under the house I would have rebuilt the house fir their owner .
This is the way you fight such fights not sending troos in the line of fire of hidden enemy

 

[Oldman1]

its a contained war in one or two small district in alepo , the rebels take shelter in tne houses that they take by force force from the people and have connected that houses with tunnel if I was cordinated the attack against them first would have found the houses and then destroyed them on tne head of the rebels with artillery and airforce and after burig the terrorists under the house I would have rebuilt the house fir their owner .
This is the way you fight such fights not sending troos in the line of fire of hidden enemy

Can't shoot what you can't see. Hence the need for ground troops to go into the city. You want to remove insurgents from a city, overwhelming force. Battle of Fallujah is an example.

 

[Hack-Hook]

ground troop onlyy need to determain where the terrorists are holed themselves ,after that its the duty of artilery and airforce to seal their hole for good

 

[United]

ground troop onlyy need to determain where the terrorists are holed themselves ,after that its the duty of artilery and airforce to seal their hole for good

what if they are spread across the whole city will u bomb the whole city?

they might have thought of that right?

u cant shoot what you cant see right?

nice game played kill the snake with the same stick.

Tyrants will pay.

 

[Crive]

On the other side Turkish troops are massing on Syrian border with missile batteries.

no problem man our missile was up and running for a decade for this.

 

[forcetrip]

The rebels have taken a clear advantage. They have run over most of the city and secured their supply line from turkey.

 

[Crive]

The rebels have taken a clear advantage. They have run over most of the city and secured their supply line from turkey.

i think i heard wrong news that Syrian army attack rebels in tunnel in halab and killed 400 and took 150of them,
the only thing that they secured is their place in hell for killing innocents,

 

[thefreesyrian]

FSA managed to occupy three major police station and killed a general, ali nasr

Courtesy javier espinosa

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2/status/230548354877227009/photo/1

 

[Ottoman-Turk]

no problem man our missile was up and running for a decade for this.

your missile is inaccurate like most missiles , like when saddam fired many scuds to israel like hit 1 or 2 buildings , while our air force would send very nice '' smart bombs '' on your heads , our leopards would turn your zulfiqar tanks that look like paper to me into a little fire ball , not including our cruise missile and ballistic which i think is just used to hit civilians except cruise , oh yeah and our navy would do a terrible blockade that would shoot the already extremely high 'chicken' that is like gold to prices you cant pay .

FSA managed to occupy three major police station and killed a general, ali nasr

Courtesy javier espinosa

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2/status/230548354877227009/photo/1

fsa , bro are you sunni arab? ( just wondering) , i have heard we are arming the turkmens and they have 2 armies fighting with FSA , but we need to arm them with very good and heavy weapons.

stinger anti-air missiles

anything that moves from syrian army , helis airforce , will be shot directly , in the border now there is FSA flag.

 

[Solomon2]

A Syrian rebel carries a home-made explosive devise as others stand back to let him pass during clashes with government troops in the Salhin district of the northern city of Aleppo. (AFP/AA)

A member of the Free Syrian Army flashes the victory sign on a captured tank after taking control of a checkpoint from government forces in Anadan, north Aleppo. (R)')

Assad praises troops but his whereabouts are mystery

01/08/2012

A member of the Free Syrian Army flashes the victory sign on a captured tank after taking control of a checkpoint from government forces in Anadan, north Aleppo. (R)

A member of the Free Syrian Army aims his weapon in Aleppo. (R)

A Syrian rebel carries a home-made explosive devise as others stand back to let him pass during clashes with government troops in the Salhin district of the northern city of Aleppo. (AFP)
ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad told his troops on Wednesday that their battle against rebels would determine Syria's fate but his written message gave no clues to his whereabouts two weeks after a bomb attack hit his inner circle.
Assad has not spoken in public since the bombing in Damascus on July 18 killed four of his close security aides although he has been seen on television.

His latest remarks - made as the two sides battled for control of Syria's commercial capital Aleppo - appeared in a statement in the military's magazine to mark armed forces day.

But it was not clear exactly when or where he was speaking, indicating heightened concern over his personal security in the wake of the bombing at the defense headquarters in the capital.

"The fate of our people and our nation, past, present and future, depends on this battle," he said.

In confronting "terrorist criminal gangs" - the government's usual term for the rebels, the army had proved it had "the steely resolve and conscience and that you are the trustees of the people's values", he said.

In the northern city of Aleppo, rebel fighters seized three police stations while fighting the army for control of a strategically important district.

Explosions could be heard on Wednesday morning and helicopter gunships cruised the skies as government forces tried to push the rebels out of the historic city and preserve one of Assad's main centers of power.

Earlier, at least 10 volleys of shells lit up the darkened sky and drowned out the Islamic call to prayer. Carloads of rebel fighters shouting "God is great" sped off towards the fighting.

The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides. Neither Assad's forces nor the rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.

Since last month's bomb attack, the fighting has become more intense, reaching into Damascus and Aleppo for the first time in the 17-month-old uprising against the Assad dynasty.

Video footage posted on the Internet appeared to show that rebel fighters were carrying out summary executions in Aleppo in much the same way as government forces have been accused of acting in Damascus.

One video showed four men identified as members of the pro-Assad Shabbiha militia being led down a flight of stair, lined up against a wall and shot in a hail of rifle fire as onlookers shouted "God is Greatest".

In another video, a cameraman filmed the bodies of about 15 men lying dead at a police station. One rebel fired at the corpse of the station commander, blowing his head off. In both cases, the content of the footage could not immediately be verified.

STREET FIGHTING MEN

The Salaheddine district in the southwest of Aleppo has been the scene of some of the worst clashes, with shells raining down for hours at a time.

While the Syrian army said at the weekend it had taken control of Salaheddine, scrappy street fighting was still underway with neither government forces nor rebels in full control. Salaheddine resembles a ghost town, its shops shuttered, with little sign of normal life.

Rebel fighters, some in balaclavas and others with scarves around their faces, fired machineguns and assault rifles around street corners at invisible enemies. Wounded civilians and fighters were carried to makeshift dressing stations.

Syrian state television said on Tuesday troops in Salaheddine were still pursuing remaining "terrorists".

A rebel commander said his fighters' aim was to push towards the city centre, district by district, a goal he believed they could achieve "within days, not weeks".

The rebels say they now control an arc that covers eastern and southwestern districts.

"The regime has tried for three days to regain Salaheddine, but its attempts have failed and it has suffered heavy losses in human life, weapons and tanks, and it has been forced to withdraw," said Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, head of the Joint Military Council, one of several rebel groups in Aleppo.

Oqaidi, who defected from the army six months ago, told Reuters that more than 3,000 rebel fighters were in Aleppo.

According to an NBC News report, the rebels have acquired nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, which were delivered to them via neighboring Turkey. The missiles could tilt the battlefield balance if the rebels were able to shoot down government helicopter and war planes.

FOOD, FUEL SHORT

The fighting has proved costly for the 2.5 million residents of Aleppo, a commercial hub with an ancient Old City that was slow to join the anti-Assad revolt that has rocked Damascus and other cities.

Thousands have fled and those who remain face shortages of food and fuel as well as the risk of injury or death.

"We have hardly any power or water, our wives and kids have left us here to watch the house and have gone somewhere safer," said Jumaa, a 45-year-old construction worker.

Makeshift clinics in rebel-held areas struggle to deal with dozens of casualties after more than a week of fighting.

Up to 18,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Aleppo and many frightened residents were seeking shelter in schools, mosques and public buildings, according to the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva.

Rebel fighters, patrolling parts of Aleppo in pick-up trucks flying green-white-and-black "independence" flags, face a daunting task in taking on the well-equipped Syrian army.

Armed with Kalashnikov rifles, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades, they are up against a military that can deploy fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, artillery and mortars.

Western and anti-Assad Arab states have for months been urging the Syrian opposition to unite.

On Tuesday, it appeared further fractured when a group of exiled Syrian activists announced a new opposition alliance to form a transitional government - a challenge to the Syrian National Council, a long established group they said had failed.

The head of the rebel Free Syrian Army criticized the new political coalition, calling its leaders opportunists seeking to divide the opposition and benefit from the rebels' gains.

Assad, a member of the Alawite minority sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, is now opposed by the leaders of other Arab states, nearly all of which are led by Sunni Muslims, as well as by Turkey and the West.

Within the region he retains the support of Shi'ite-led Iran, and in the U.N. Security Council he has been protected by China and Russia.

The U.N. General Assembly said on Tuesday it would hold a meeting on the crisis in Syria this week and diplomats say it will likely vote on a Saudi-drafted resolution that condemns the Security Council for failing to take action against Damascus.