SYRIA: Rebels in Aleppo execute counter-attack

Record ID: 281265

  • Title: SYRIA: Rebels in Aleppo execute counter-attack
  • Date: 13th August 2012
  • Summary: ALEPPO, SYRIA (AUGUST 12, 2012) (AMATEUR VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) REBES STANDING IN ROOM DISCUSSING ATTACK ON TELEVISION STATION VARIOUS OF REBEL DRAWING ON PAPER, REBELS TALKING ABOUT ATTACK ON TELEVISION STATION REBELS OUTSIDE, GETTING INTO CAR REBEL TALKING TO MAN IN PICK UP TRUCK REBEL IN PICK UP TRUCK TALKING INTO RADIO VARIOUS OF PICK UP TRUCK FITTED WITH ANTI-AIR
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYAK52JBSUFWU63VO5W8SEPUC
  • Story Text: Syrian rebels carried out a counter-attack on a television and radio station in the battleground of Aleppo on Sunday (August 12), as an opposition leader said their efforts to oust President Bashar al-Assad need the protection of no-fly zones and safe havens patrolled by foreign forces near the borders with Jordan and Turkey.
    Amateur video obtained by Reuters shows what it says are rebels planning the attack from a hideout.
    The television and radio station's antenna can be seen in the video.
    Speaking before the attack, an apparent defector army lieutenant, Abdel Kader, said the targeting of the station should help them gain control of the area.
    "The operation is to attack the dogs of Assad and his gang at the television station. We are attacking them to liberate this area, which is ours," he said.
    Battles raged on Sunday in the northern city of Aleppo, where tanks, artillery and snipers attacked rebels in the Saif al-Dawla district next to the devastated area of Salaheddine.
    Syrian civilians desperate to check on their homes pushed into fluid front lines around Salaheddine, even as sniper fire cracked out and rebels warned them to stay away.
    Abdelbasset Sida, head of the Syrian National Council, said the United States had realised that the absence of a no-fly zone to counter Assad's air superiority hindered rebel movements.
    He was speaking a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her country and Turkey would study a range of possible measures to help Assad's foes, including a no-fly zone, although she indicated no decisions were necessarily imminent.
    A no-fly zone imposed by NATO and Arab allies helped Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year.
    The West has shown little appetite for repeating any Libya-style action in Syria, and Russia and China strongly oppose any such intervention.
    Insurgents have expanded territory they hold near the Turkish border in the last few weeks since the Syrian army gathered its forces for an offensive to regain control of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city and economic hub.
    Rebels who seized swathes of the city three weeks ago have been fighting to hold their ground against troops backed by warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery.
    Aleppo and the capital Damascus, where troops snuffed out a rebel offensive last month, are vital to Assad's struggle for the survival of a ruling system his family and members of his minority Alawite clan have dominated for four decades.
  • Copyright Holder: AMATEUR VIDEO (CAN SELL)
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