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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Syrian forces pound Aleppo and Damascus | |
| 2012-07-27 | |
| BEIRUT: Damascus and SyriaÂ’s second biggest city, Aleppo, came under shell fire yesterday as troops loyal to President Bashar Assad stepped up efforts to crush fighters threatening the governmentÂ’s two main power centers. One of the most senior figures to defect from AssadÂ’s inner circle, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas, put himself forward as someone who could help unite the fragmented opposition inside and outside Syria on a blueprint for a transfer of power.
Fierce clashes raged in the early hours of Thursday in Aleppo, and an activist said rebels now controlled half of the city, a claim that could not be independently verified. “There was shelling this morning on the Salaheddine and Mashhad districts,” said Aleppo activist Abu Hisham. “Now it has stopped, but helicopters are buzzing overhead.” Activists said 24 people were killed in fighting in and around Aleppo on Wednesday, swelling a national death toll of about 18,000 since the revolt against Assad began 16 months ago. In the Syrian capital, a resident in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp reported heavy shelling, particularly near the southern Hajar Al-Aswad district. She said the army seemed to be targeting sites on the edges of the camp, firing shells every minute. The bombardment started around 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and was still going three hours later. As hostilities have intensified in the north, in and around Aleppo, Turkey closed its border posts to commercial traffic on Wednesday, but not to refugees fleeing Syria. At the Syrian town of Azaz, a few miles south of the Turkish border, rebels appeared in control after heavy clashes over the past month in which they succeeded in driving government forces out of what had become a rubble-strewn ghost town, a Reuters correspondent who visited the town said. Military experts believe an overstretched Syrian army is pulling back to concentrate on Aleppo and Damascus, while leaving outlying areas in the hands of rebels. In its most recent comment on the fighting, state-run Syrian television said on Wednesday that government troops were imposing security and stability in and around Aleppo. “The terrorists are suffering terrible losses. Groups of them are throwing their weapons away and giving themselves up. Others are fleeing for the Turkish border,” the television said. Assad himself has not spoken in public in more than a week since the Damascus bomb attack on his inner circle, confining himself to appearing at formal televised events. General Tlas, a former friend of Assad’s who could play a role in any transition of power, said he had not defected from Syria in order to play a leadership role. “I am discussing with ... people outside Syria to reach a consensus with those inside,” he told Thursday’s edition of the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. “I left (Syria)...to try to help the best I can to unite the honorable people inside and outside Syria to set out a road map to get Syria out of this crisis.” Tlas, who is in Jeddah and has been interviewed by a Saudi-owned newspaper and a television station, appeared to have tacit Saudi support for his stance. The general, a Sunni Muslim member of Assad’s mostly Alawite inner circle and a senior officer in the Republican Guards, defected earlier this month. “I will cooperate with every honorable person who wants to rebuild Syria, be it the National Council or the (rebel) Free Syria Army,” he said. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 as of sunset (a few hours ago), no major Syrian Army offensive had begun the tanks were placed on the western side of the city the rebels were being reinforced from the east well, tomorrow is another day |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-07-27 16:36 |
| #4 Battle of Aleppo now has its own wikipedia site. It will probably run 24 to 48 hours behind real time but will have comprehensive info. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-07-27 08:40 |
| #3 "The terrorists are suffering terrible losses. Groups of them are throwing their weapons away and giving themselves up. Others are fleeing for the Turkish border," the television said. Doubtful these lads are merely detained for questioning for few hours or days, then released. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-07-27 03:49 |
| #2 really really bad couple of days Or, one of the greatest shows on Earth. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-07-27 02:32 |
| #1 Copters + Armored column + Alawite thugs vs. Sunni wahbabi in a city of 2.5 million is a recipe for a really really bad couple of days. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-07-27 01:02 |