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Syrian Army presses assault on Aleppo
ALEPPO, Syria: The Syrian Army pressed its assault on fighters in commercial capital Aleppo yesterday. The exiled opposition said that pro-government militia had summarily executed 10 civilians in a round-up in the flashpoint central city of Homs, while the official SANA news agency reported the murder of one of its staff, the latest in a series pro-government journalists to be killed.In Aleppo, troops shelled rebel-held districts as fighting flared anew around a southwestern neighborhood that rebel fighters had quit last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said The Shaar, Tariq Al-Bab, Sakhur, Hanano and Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhoods all came under bombardment, as the army pressed a ground offensive it launched on Wednesday to recapture areas seized by rebels since July 20, the Britain-based watchdog said. In the capital Damascus, gunfire was reported in the Qadam neighborhood. Outside the capital, machine gun fire was heard in the town of Al-Tal, where 15 civilians were killed in shelling and clashes on Saturday. They were among 148 people killed across Syria on Saturday 85 civilians, 20 rebels and 43 soldiers, the Observatory said. The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper spoke of foiled bids to break the calm in Damascus, which was cleansed of terrorist groups who terrified residents. In Aleppo, the paper said that the army was poised to assault the Sukari neighborhood in the south of the city, after its recapture of the nearby Salaheddin district on Thursday. The door to Sukari district, the second bastion of the armed men in Aleppo, is now open for the army, it said, adding that troops had gained control of several axes, which would allow them to storm the area. The opposition Syrian National Council and activist groups said that the 10 civilians were executed a round-up of military-aged men in the Shamas district of Homs. Militiamen detained nearly 350 people from the Shamas district, assembled them in a courtyard and executed 10 of them, activist group, the Syrian Revolution General Council, said. The fate of the nearly 340 others is unknown and we fear greatly that they have met the same fate as the 10 martyrs, the group added. The opposition SNC issued a similar statement. Ten young men were executed in the Shamas neighborhood of Homs city after the army and pro-regime gunmen stormed the area and rounded up 350 young people, it said. The official SANA news agency said that the head of its home news department, Abbas Ali, was assassinated by an armed terrorist group at his home in Jdaidet Artuz outside the capital on Saturday evening. On Friday, rebels abducted three state television journalists as they accompanied government troops operating near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory said. It came after a bomb attack on state television headquarters wounded several people last week and after an Al-Qaeda linked group claimed the abduction and murder earlier this month of state television presenter Mohammed Al-Saeed. Posted by: Steve White 2012-08-13 |
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