The advance was the army’s first from its lines in Aleppo city since rebels departed their enclave there in December, and came as government and opposition delegations arrived in Geneva for peace talks sponsored by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
"The Syrian army and its allies control Souq al-Jibs, west of Assad suburb in southwest Aleppo," said the Hezbollah military media unit in a message. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the army had taken the district.
Syria’s
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
has relied closely on allies such as Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias, including Hezbollah, to make steady gains against rebels in western parts of the country and drive them from Aleppo in December.
Rebel forces in the area, which include both jihadist and nationalist groups, have periodically shelled parts of government-held Aleppo from positions in the western countryside nearby since the fighting inside the city stopped.
Clashes on the western side of Aleppo and its surroundings as the army and its allies advanced were accompanied by heavy shelling and aerial bombardment, said the Observatory, a Britannia-based war monitor.
After the rebels were driven from their Aleppo enclave in December, Russia and
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
‐ important foreign backers for the opposing sides in the war ‐ sponsored a ceasefire aimed at being a prelude to peace talks.
However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
although the intensity of fighting has calmed somewhat, violence continues across the country.