SYRIA: The government of Bashar al-Assad declares victory on Syria's capital Damascus and pounded rebels who control parts of its largest city Aleppo

Record ID: 281184

  • Title: SYRIA: The government of Bashar al-Assad declares victory on Syria's capital Damascus and pounded rebels who control parts of its largest city Aleppo
  • Date: 29th July 2012
  • Summary: REBELS SHOUTING "GOD IS GREATEST"/ BODY OF A MAN ON THE FLOOR
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVADA75EYUTWDX6ITSWG8VZG5851
  • Story Text: The government of Bashar al-Assad declared victory on Sunday (July 29) in a hard-fought battle for Syria's capital Damascus, and pounded rebels who control parts of its largest city Aleppo.
    Assad's forces have struggled as never before to maintain their grip on the country over the past two weeks after a major rebel advance into the two largest cities and an explosion that killed four top security officials.
    Government forces have succeeded in reimposing their grip on the capital after a punishing battle, but rebels are still in control of sections of Aleppo, clashing with reinforced army troops for several days.
    Rebel fighters, patrolling opposition districts in flat-bed trucks flying green-white-and-black "independence" flags, said they were holding off Assad's forces in the south-western Aleppo district of Salaheddine, where clashes have gone on for days.

    "The situation in here is so bloody and sad. The planes are bombing from everywhere. The artillery bombs are being thrown randomly. It does not differentiate between the civilian and the others," said Sheik Abderahmane, District Chief of the Free Syrian Army.
    Opposition activists also reported fighting in other rebel-held districts of Aleppo, in what could herald the start of a decisive phase in the battle for Syria's commercial hub, after the army sent tank columns and troop reinforcements last week.
    Helicopter gunships hovered over the city shortly after dawn and the thud of artillery boomed across neighbourhoods. Syrian state television said soldiers was repelling "terrorists" in Salaheddine and had captured several of their leaders.
    Some rebel-held areas visited by Reuters were empty of residents. Fighters were basing themselves in houses - some clearly abandoned in a hurry, with food still in the fridges.

    "The situation is very bad here in Aleppo. They are throwing shells, they open fire on us, and we have nothing in here," said one Aleppo resident.

    "We have been without bread for 7 days, I swear for 7 days. Without food and without even food for the kids," said one woman as she walked past dead man in the street.
    A burnt out tank lay in the street, while nearby another one had been captured intact, covered in tarpaulin and left in a car park, perhaps for the rebels themselves to use against any ground assault by Assad's forces.

    "This man is only a civilian. He does not have anything to do with the armed gangs or what they refer to as "the terrorists". It's the Assad gangs who are bombing him and he is a civilian. He is not involved in anything, it's all as a result of the random bombings," said one rebel as he pointed to one victim's bullet wound.

    "This is a civilian. This is what the Assad's gangs are doing, killing innocents. He is unidentified, no one knows his family. Isn't this unfair?" said another as people covered two bodies on the floor with blankets.
    In a largely empty street, flanked by closed shops and run-down buildings, women clad in long black abaya cloaks walked with children next to walls daubed with rebel graffiti - "Freedom", "Free Syrian Army" and "Down with Bashar".
    Rubbish lay uncollected and in one street families were packing vans full of mattresses in apparent preparation to flee.
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