Syria’s army and allies yesterday clashed in the south of Aleppo, with rebels seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a military source, rebels and a monitor said, part of a pro-government offensive to retake Syria’s once largest city.
The fighting was concentrated in Sheikh Saeed, a rebel-held district of the city next to Ramousah, where the most intense battles earlier this summer took place, but there were conflicting accounts of whether the army made any gains.
Airstrikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo by the Syrian military and Russian jets remained significantly lighter than during the previous two weeks following an army announcement on Wednesday that it would lessen its bombardment.
Photo: AFP
“Today there is no bombardment on the neighborhoods in the city, until now. We do not know what will happen in an hour,” said Ammar al-Selmo, head of the civil defense rescue organization in Aleppo.
KEY POSITIONS
A Syrian military source yesterday said that the army had captured several important positions on Sheikh Saeed’s hilltop, but rebels later said that all those gains had been reversed and that insurgents still held the area.
Since the start of an offensive two weeks ago, following the collapse of a short ceasefire, the army and its allies have made some progress in northern and central districts of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, home to more than 250,000 people.
They have captured the Handarat refugee camp and part of an industrial district next to it on eastern Aleppo’s northern outskirts, part of the Bustan al-Basha district just north of the city center and some ground in the central Old City.
However, to completely storm eastern Aleppo could take months and would involve the destruction of the city and great loss of life, the UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday.
AMNESTY OFFERED
Al-Assad on Thursday said that rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms, while he vowed to press on with the assault and recapture full control of the country.
Fighters have accepted similar government amnesty offers in other besieged areas in recent months, notably in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus that was under siege for years until rebels surrendered it in August.
However, rebels said they had no plan to evacuate Aleppo, the last major urban area they control, and denounced the amnesty offer as a deception.
“It is impossible for the rebel groups to leave Aleppo because this would be a trick by the regime,” said Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official for the Fastaqim group which is present in Aleppo.
“Aleppo is not like other areas, it is not possible for them to surrender,” he said.
Washington was also skeptical of government motives: “For them to suggest that somehow they are now looking out for the interests of civilians is outrageous,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, citing the heavy civilian toll from airstrikes and bombardment.
However, rebels have said they do not trust al-Assad, and have said they believe such an agreement would be aimed at purging Sunni Muslims from eastern Aleppo.
Rebel shelling on government-held western Aleppo killed 11 people on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor said yesterday.
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