Syrian rebels breach government-imposed siege on Aleppo

Aleppo, once Syria’s economic hub and one of the oldest cities in the Middle East, has been roughly divided between government forces in the west and rebel groups in the east since fighting there first broke out in 2012.

Fears are growing in government-held western Aleppo that it might become besieged by opposition groups, as east Aleppo has been by government forces, because the main route south to Damascus for goods transport, the Ramousah road, has been severed.

Over the past 24 hours, the Syrian government forces and self-defense militias have killed more than 800 terrorists and destroyed dozens of armored vehicles, according to the report.

However the rebels have been unable to secure exit corridors for people trapped in besieged areas, due to intensive Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes on the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian state news agency SANA says that the rebels have not broken the siege of the city’s eastern neighborhoods.

“The propaganda and the emotional rhetoric, the unfounded accusations, the information campaign, means that we can not move toward a political settlement in Syria”, Safronkov said.

The fight for Syria’s northern city of Aleppo has intensified with opposition groups pledging to pour in more fighters and fully capture the strategic area, while pro-government forces have responded to rebel gains with more airstrikes.

August 7, 2016 (EIRNS)-While there are conflicting reports in media worldwide about the fierce fighting around East Aleppo in Syria, one thing is clear.

At least one medical charity has reported the month of July as the worst to date for attacks on medical care centres in Syria, with 43 attacks on healthcare facilities recorded in their count.

Aid workers that are allowed to operate in government areas in Aleppo only have supplies for those of the population deemed in need, mostly refugees displaced from other areas, so they are likely to have just a month’s supply for just a fraction of those still in the city. Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes operate in Syria but it was not known which aircraft carried out the strike.

Opposition activists said Russian aircraft also took part in the air strikes on Sunday in Aleppo’s Ramouseh area.

The Observatory said the SDF “took control of Manbij. and are combing the city in search of the last remaining militants”.

“The regime is using cluster and vacuum bombs”, said Abu al Hasanien, a senior Fatah Army commander based in Aleppo.

“The goal was breaking the siege on our people in Aleppo and cutting the reinforcements’ roads to the regime”, Mr. Ali said.

Videos released by rebel groups claim to show gun battles as insurgents moved into buildings in the complex.

“This is the final blow to the initial United States policy meant to support the moderate opposition in Syria”, Michael Horowitz, analyst at the Levantine Group, told the Telegraph.

The agency said 10 civilians were killed on Saturday in rebel shelling on two government-held districts.

Residents on both side of the city are suffering. The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) charity group said that already depleted medical facilities were targeted by strikes 15 times in July. “The question is not whether the opposition has made some progress or not [but] whether they can really maintain the areas that they occupy and whether they can consolidate it”.

Pope Francis has said it is “unacceptable” that civilian victims of Syria’s civil war are paying the price for the “the lack of desire for peace by the powerful”.