Syria rebels escalate campaign in Aleppo

Syrian rebels have begun a major operation in the Aleppo region, aiming to strike at government security compounds and bases around Syria’s largest city, activists said yesterday.

It would be evidence that weeks of intense bombardments by the Syrian military, including airstrikes, have failed to dislodge the rebels.

Instead, fighting rages in a 17-month civil war that shows no sign of ending soon.

The rebel offensives in Aleppo are led by a brigade made up mostly of army defectors, who specialise in artillery and tanks, said Mohammed Saeed, an activist based in the city.

He said the first attacks began shortly before midnight on Thursday and lasted until yesterday, when the self-proclaimed Brigade of Free Syrians launched strikes on several security compounds in Aleppo.

“The new operations aim to strike at regime forces’ centres and airbases throughout Aleppo [province],” Mr Saeed said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of the targets was a compound in the Aleppo neighbourhood of Zahraa, where rebels killed and wounded a number of troops. It gave no figures.

Mr Saeed said rebels attacked four security buildings around Aleppo, using tanks, rocket launchers and machine guns.

The state-run news agency, SANA, said troops killed and wounded several gunmen in the clashes.

Rebels took parts of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, last month. Since then, government forces has been trying to recapture them.

Activists estimate more than 20,000 people have been killed in the uprising against president Bashar Assad’s regime.

There has been fighting across Syria, including the capital,
Damascus, showing that the rebels have a presence in main population centres, not just the outlying districts.