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August 1st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Thousands have fled the violence and others are running low on supplies
- Rebels say they will turn the city into
the ‘grave’ of the Assad government - They are advancing on Aleppo’s centre and have taken army tanks
- But government have more weapons at their disposal
- More than 100 people were killed in Syria yesterday
By
Emma Reynolds
11:15 EST, 31 July 2012
|
14:58 EST, 31 July 2012
These are the heartrending images captured on the streets of Aleppo as rebels and the Syrian government battle for power.
Rebel fighters have claimed President Bashar al-Assad’s army has been forced into retreat, but on the frontline of the clashes, a grim picture of the bitter fighting can be seen.
Rebels say they will turn Aleppo into
the ‘grave’ of the Assad government, and thousands have now fled, with those left running short of food and fuel and afraid for their lives.
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Ammunition: A Syrian rebel fighter loads an anti-aircraft machine-gun on an armoured vehicle in the northern town of Atareb, 25km east of Aleppo
Alert: A Syrian rebel takes position during clashes with government troops in the Salaheddine district of Aleppo today
Wreckage: A lone boy jumps off a destroyed army vehicle in Atareb as fighting raged in Aleppo for a fourth straight day
Escape: Syrian rebels carry a comrade who was wounded during clashes with President Bashar al-Assad’s troops in Aleppo today
‘We
have hardly any power or water, our wives and kids have left us here to
watch the house and have gone somewhere safer,’ said Jumaa, a
45-year-old construction worker, who is supposed to be observing the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
‘I
would say 99.9 percent of the people aren’t fasting. How can you fast
when you hear mortars and artillery hitting the areas nearby and
wondering if you will be next?’
Syrian warplanes and shelling battered the country’s biggest city today and heavy gunfire sounded from the Salaheddine district in the south-west of the city, which lies on a major road and has been the scene of some of the worst violence.
Huge clouds of black smoke rose into the sky after attack helicopters turned their machine guns towards eastern districts for the first time in the latest bout of fighting – and a Russian aircraft later moved into the area.
Onslaught: Smoke rises between buildings after shelling by forces loyal to Assad in the busy Salaheddin district
Battle cry: Syrian rebels tear through the streets as they fight to move further towards the city centre
Heavy fire: A Free Syrian Army member stands by his anti-aircraft machine gun on the outskirts of Aleppo
Frightening times: Concerned citizens ride past a destroyed building during clashes between Assad’s forces and the Free Syrian Army on the outskirts of Aleppo province
The army claimed it had taken Salaheddine two days ago, but Syrian state television said today troops were still pursuing ‘terrorists’ there, suggesting the army does not have full control of the area.
A rebel commander in Aleppo said his fighters’ aim was to push towards the city centre, taking it ‘within days, not weeks’.
The rebels now control an arc that covers eastern and south-western districts.
‘The regime has tried for three days to regain Saleheddine, but its attempts have failed and it has suffered heavy losses in human life, weapons and tanks, and it has been forced to withdraw,’ said Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, head of the Joint Military Council, one of several rebel groups in Aleppo.
Colonel Oqaidi said late last night that more than 3,000 rebel fighters were in Aleppo.
The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides in the 16-month-old rebellion, with both needing to win to give them hope over the wider struggle for Syria.
Strategic: Syrian rebels attacked key military targets and overran two police stations in Aleppo today, according to reports, killing 40 officers
Better equipment: Syrian rebels commandeer a police car in Aleppo today. They have captured a small number of vehicles but do not appear to have used them so far
Trapped: Syrian rebel fighters prepare for fierce battle in Aleppo as residents fight to escape the war-torn city
The fighting has proved costly for the 2.5million residents of Aleppo, a commercial hub that was slow to join the anti-Assad revolt that has rocked the capital, Damascus, and other cities.
Makeshift clinics in rebel-held areas struggle to deal with dozens of casualties after more than a week of fighting.
Up to 18,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Aleppo and many frightened families were seeking shelter in schools, mosques and public buildings, according to figures given by the UN refugee agency in Geneva.
‘These are people that haven’t fled the city as they haven’t had the means or feel it is too dangerous to make that journey and we are getting indications that the journey is fraught with armed gangs and road blocks blocking the way,’ said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
She estimated that around 15,000 to 18,000 people are displaced within Aleppo.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 100 people, including 73 civilians, were killed in Syria yesterday. It said five rebel fighters died during clashes with Syrian forces in Salaheddine.
Rebel fighters patrolling parts of Aleppo in pick-up trucks flying green, white and black ‘independence’ flags face a daunting task in taking on the well-equipped Syrian army, even if the loyalty of some of its troops is in doubt.
Hunger games: Syrians carry bags of bread away from a bakery in the northern town of Aldana near Aleppo
Short of supplies: Desperate families queue up for bags of pitta bread outside a bakery
The rebels are armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades, against a military that can deploy fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and mortars.
Rebels have captured a small number of tanks and armoured vehicles but do not seem to have used them in combat yet.
Against a background of divisions among major powers over Syria, US president Barack Obama and Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed in a telephone call how they could work together to speed up political transition in Damascus.
Mr Erdogan’s office said: ‘They took up the co-ordination of efforts to accelerate the process of political transition in Syria, including Bashar al-Assad leaving the administration and the meeting of the Syrian people’s legitimate demands.’
Mr Erdogan, who once enjoyed close ties with Assad, has become one of his fiercest critics and has demanded he step down.
Turkey hosts more than 44,000 Syrian refugees, many of them in border camps where they complain of poor conditions.
Amid growing concern about security on its frontier, Turkey sent at least four heavily armed military convoys to the border with Syria on Monday, although there has been no indication that Turkish forces will cross over.
TIMELINE OF THE TUG OF WAR OVER SYRIA’S KEY CITIES
The northern Syrian city of Aleppo has become a key focus for the fighting, with both Assad’s army and the rebels desperate to win control.
The commercial hub was slow to join the anti-Assad revolt that has rocked the capital, Damascus, and other cities, but now families are being forced to flee the violence and supplies are being cut off. Here is how events unfolded.
July 20: Heavy fighting erupts in Aleppo, which has so far been largely spared the violence in a 16-month uprising.
July 23: A rebel spokesman says opposition fighters have “liberated” multiple neighbourhoods of Aleppo, including Salaheddin in the south.
July 25: Both the army and rebels send reinforcements to Aleppo.
July 26: Fighting rages in several areas as troops and rebels prepare for a head-on confrontation.
July 27: Helicopter gunships fire on several neighbourhoods. The rebels say they have captured 100 soldiers or members of the feared ‘shabiha’ militia in Aleppo. World powers call for ‘maximum pressure’ on the regime to prevent a massacre in the city.
July 28: The military launches a dawn assault, using helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks as well as ground troops. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports ‘the fiercest clashes of the uprising’ as residents flee or take refuge in basements.
July 29: Rebels say they have staved off a fightback by regime forces in Aleppo. The UN says 200,000 have fled the city in the past two days.
July 30: Rebels seize a strategic checkpoint northwest of Aleppo after a 10-hour battle, securing free movement between the city and Turkey. The army has overrun part of Salaheddin district but is facing a ‘very strong resistance’, a security official in Damascus says. The rebels, however, deny that the army has advanced even ‘one metre’.
July 31: Overnight rebels launch attacks on a military court and an air force intelligence headquarters, along with a police station and a branch of the ruling Baath Party in a southern neighbourhood of Aleppo, a watchdog says. The Observatory says several neighbourhoods, notably Salaheddin, are shelled through the night by government troops.
State television says ‘the army is pursuing terrorist groups in neighbourhoods of Aleppo, inflicting enormous losses’. The Observatory says rebels overran two police stations in Aleppo, killing at least 40 policemen during fighting that lasted for hours.
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Rebels? More like hired foreign mercenaries!!
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US backed terrorists must not be allowed to turn Syria into another Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan. Go for it President Assad, protect your nation from the greed of the west
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Well it wouldn’t be the first time the rebels have turned a city into a grave, they keep doing it.
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enough of propaganda, most people woke up and know who those rebels are and why they are being armed! everyone knows the door to iran is syria and cant attack iran unless syria falls! if it was not for china and russia NATO would have bombed both syria and iran by now!
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Who do we support,? and why should we. They have nothing but hatred for the west, I am against any christians being sent there as soldiers. We have spent enough blood in the middle east, let china and russia have the problem.
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DEATH TO AL-CIAda
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I seriously hope Assad wins and kicks the foreign terrorists out of his country.
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I fail to see why I should see them as heros, they are using innocent civilians as human shields and are as responsible for many attrocities. There are no winners in war only victims, if I had to pick a side then I would side with the innocent civilians who just want to live.
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REBELS ….or CIA funded TERRORIST,,??? is it not about time we were told the TRUTH….it is not our problem no matter what the YANKS OR OBAMA thinks…….KEEP OUT
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I am sure it is not very nice under the current regime…however the ‘rebels’ do seem extremely well armed and organized are they the rent-a-mob that the west uses to destabilize countries to make it look like an internal revolution. As using this as a method avoids all those million people marches you get with Iraq 2 protesting about pointless ‘banker, oil baron’ financed wars.
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