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Fighting Rages in Aleppo After Syrian Rebels Break Through Siege - WSJ
Fighting Rages in Aleppo After Syrian Rebels Break Through Siege
Rebel fighters advance in an attempt to take more ground from regime forces, in a major step toward providing civilians with aid and medicine.
By Raja Abdulrahim
Updated Aug. 7, 2016 1:24 p.m. ET
Fighting raged in Aleppo between rebels and Syrian regime forces on Sunday, a day after the opposition broke a weekslong government siege on its eastern half.
The rebel factions are making a bid to open a main road for food and humanitarian aid to reach some 300,000 civilians who have been besieged in opposition-held areas of Syria’s former commercial capital.
Only a few pickup trucks carrying vegetables have made their way into Aleppo since the rebels’ offensive made its breakthrough on Saturday evening. Airstrikes from regime and Russian warplanes continued to target opposition fighters, local residents and rebels said.
Rebel fighters are battling to take more ground from regime forces and create a wider opening that can’t be easily bombed or cut off, said Ahmad Kura Ali, a spokesman with the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham group, which is taking part in the offensive.
“We assure the people of Aleppo that whoever enters his home is safe, whoever enters a mosque or a church is safe and whoever lays down his weapon is safe, too,” said a statement released by numerous factions fighting in the city, including some allied with the Free Syrian Army, the U.S.-backed moderate opposition coalition.
The rebels launched their offensive in July, two weeks after the regime—backed by Russian airstrikes and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah—cut off the sole supply line leading into eastern Aleppo’s opposition-controlled neighborhoods.
The city’s grim humanitarian situation deteriorated further after the encirclement, as opposition officials said Syrian and Russian warplanes targeted hospitals, markets and other infrastructure.
Advancing through the southwest corner of Aleppo this week, rebels from numerous local factions seized control of military outposts, including the city’s artillery academy. They also seized parts of the main supply road leading to regime-held Aleppo, cutting off critical supplies to the area.
Rebel fighters ride a tank in Aleppo, Syria on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Residents in government-controlled Aleppo expressed fear that they were now in a position to be besieged themselves. Basic supplies such as fuel, bread and vegetables were already in short supply on Sunday, they said.
“The goal was breaking the siege on our people in Aleppo and cutting the reinforcements’ roads to the regime,” Mr. Ali said.
Syrian state media continued to deny that rebels had taken parts of the road and reported that the air force was intensifying its strikes on “terrorists,” the term it uses to refer to much of the opposition.
The rebel advance was aided in part by suicide bombers from the Syria Conquest Front, the new name taken by Nusra Front after it announced it had severed ties with al Qaeda.
Write to Raja Abdulrahim at raja.abdulrahim@wsj.com
Fighting Rages in Aleppo After Syrian Rebels Break Through Siege
Rebel fighters advance in an attempt to take more ground from regime forces, in a major step toward providing civilians with aid and medicine.
By Raja Abdulrahim
Updated Aug. 7, 2016 1:24 p.m. ET
Fighting raged in Aleppo between rebels and Syrian regime forces on Sunday, a day after the opposition broke a weekslong government siege on its eastern half.
The rebel factions are making a bid to open a main road for food and humanitarian aid to reach some 300,000 civilians who have been besieged in opposition-held areas of Syria’s former commercial capital.
Only a few pickup trucks carrying vegetables have made their way into Aleppo since the rebels’ offensive made its breakthrough on Saturday evening. Airstrikes from regime and Russian warplanes continued to target opposition fighters, local residents and rebels said.
Rebel fighters are battling to take more ground from regime forces and create a wider opening that can’t be easily bombed or cut off, said Ahmad Kura Ali, a spokesman with the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham group, which is taking part in the offensive.
“We assure the people of Aleppo that whoever enters his home is safe, whoever enters a mosque or a church is safe and whoever lays down his weapon is safe, too,” said a statement released by numerous factions fighting in the city, including some allied with the Free Syrian Army, the U.S.-backed moderate opposition coalition.
The rebels launched their offensive in July, two weeks after the regime—backed by Russian airstrikes and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah—cut off the sole supply line leading into eastern Aleppo’s opposition-controlled neighborhoods.
The city’s grim humanitarian situation deteriorated further after the encirclement, as opposition officials said Syrian and Russian warplanes targeted hospitals, markets and other infrastructure.
Advancing through the southwest corner of Aleppo this week, rebels from numerous local factions seized control of military outposts, including the city’s artillery academy. They also seized parts of the main supply road leading to regime-held Aleppo, cutting off critical supplies to the area.
Rebel fighters ride a tank in Aleppo, Syria on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Residents in government-controlled Aleppo expressed fear that they were now in a position to be besieged themselves. Basic supplies such as fuel, bread and vegetables were already in short supply on Sunday, they said.
“The goal was breaking the siege on our people in Aleppo and cutting the reinforcements’ roads to the regime,” Mr. Ali said.
Syrian state media continued to deny that rebels had taken parts of the road and reported that the air force was intensifying its strikes on “terrorists,” the term it uses to refer to much of the opposition.
The rebel advance was aided in part by suicide bombers from the Syria Conquest Front, the new name taken by Nusra Front after it announced it had severed ties with al Qaeda.
Write to Raja Abdulrahim at raja.abdulrahim@wsj.com