SYRIA: Battle rages for city of Aleppo

Record ID: 281169

  • Title: SYRIA: Battle rages for city of Aleppo
  • Date: 25th July 2012
  • Summary: F AZAZ, SYRIA (JULY 25, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DAMAGED POLICE COMPOUND VARIOUS OF FREE SYRIAN ARMY SOLDIER OUTSIDE THE COMPOUND DESTROYED VEHICLE DAMAGED SCHOOL BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FREE SYRIAN ARMY CAPTAIN AHMAD, SAYING: "With the help of God, the Free Syrian Army has captured 50 per cent of Aleppo city and with the help of God, we will capture the whole ci
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVADVGQFLUFM6FP608Q4ZTZ2B1MZ
  • Story Text: A captain in the Free Syrian Army claimed on Wednesday (July 25) that rebels have seized half the city of Aleppo.
    Captain Ahmad was speaking from the city of Azaz near the Turkish border, a few miles south of the Turkish border, where rebels appeared in control after heavy clashes over the past month in which they succeeded in driving out government forces, leaving the place a rubble-strewn ghost-town.
    "With the help of God, the Free Syrian Army has captured 50 per cent of Aleppo city and with the help of God, we will capture the whole city soon," said Captain Ahmad.
    The town of Azaz has been almost completely destroyed by heavy fighting. Burnt-out armoured personnel carriers sit on the roads where rebels hit them with rocket-propelled grenades.
    Bullet casings are scattered everywhere. Most residents fled during the latest fighting, which drove Assad's forces out over the past month and ended in the rebels taking the Bab al-Salam border crossing with Turkey on Sunday.
    The Syrian army turned its forces on Aleppo on Wednesday, ordering an armoured column to advance on the country's second biggest city and pounding rebels there with artillery and attack helicopters, opposition activists said.
    Fighting in and around Aleppo is expected to prompt an exodus across the Turkish border, where some Syrian refugees are already complaining about poor conditions and have clashed with riot police in disputes over food.
    Turkey said it was closing its crossing posts due to security reasons, although the United Nations said refugees fleeing Syria would be allowed through.
    The 16-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has been transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week.
    Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighbourhoods in the capital and are turning towards Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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