Syria: Regime troops pour into Aleppo as rebels warn of drawn out guerilla war

One rebel in Aleppo told the Daily Telegraph he had counted 25 dead bodies in
just one hour in the city centre as the army’s Russian-made helicopters
gunships raked the streets with machine-gun fire.

Another activist, Farouk Al-Ahmad, claimed that FSA fighters had destroyed 4
tanks in the vanguard of the regime’s armoured column. Control of Aleppo is
seen as the key to the outcome of the uprising against President Bashar
al-Assad. Although formally Syria‘s
second city, it has overshadowed Damascus for much of the country’s recent
history.

Mr Assad’s father, Hafez, allied with the Aleppo merchant class during his
30-year presidency. Until the last few weeks, Aleppo was relatively
unaffected by the uprising.

Even if the regime’s manages to reimpose its authority on the city, however,
Aleppo is much more fractured than before. To the north, where Islamist
currents run strong, the key towns of Azaz, Hreitan and Anadan are
opposition strongholds. Inside the city, factory owners are realising
support for the regime is no longer in their interests. Their employees have
turned against Mr Assad, trade has been paralysed, and the uprising has
caused a deep economic crisis.

The rebels – many of whom wear old combat uniforms with plastic sandals –
scoff at reports of their supposed supplies from abroad. “We have no
weapons shipments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Turkey. We have to buy our
bullets at ten times the old price,” said Gen Filistini. The regime, by
contrast, was benefiting from significant outside support, deploying “Iranian
technology and Russia guns”.

Despite an official announcement that the regime’s stockpiles of chemical
weapons would “never” be used against Syrian citizens, there are
still widespread fears. Ahmed Kassem, an FSA spokesman, said the government
was storing chemical weapons at airports. “We know the purpose here is
to bomb the rebels with chemical weapons because these are deployed by
airplanes and that’s why they moved the weapons close by the airports.”

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said the West must do all it could
to persuade Mr Assad to step down.

Mr Blair said of Syria’s civil war, “the sooner it ends the sooner the
slaughter will end and also the sooner you can try and repair what will now
be deep, deep hatreds amongst parts of the community there.”

Syria’s charge d’affairs in Cyprus, Lamia Hariri, has defected to the rebels.
Some reports suggest that her husband, who serves as ambassador to the
United Arab Emirates, had also changed sides. Earlier this month, Syria’s
envoy to Iraq became the first senior diplomat to defect.

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