...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
on Thursday in what was described as one of the first known instances of Islamic fascisti using captured heavy weapons, as opposition activists warned that fighting for the city, the countryÂ’s main commercial center, would likely intensify.
A Syrian activist said
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
Â’s army appeared to be preparing for an all-out assault.
“We have seen military reinforcements making their way to Aleppo,” said Abou Firas, an activist in Aleppo using a satellite Internet connection because telephone and Internet service from the city was cut off. “We were worried about massacres but now we are issuing a warning about a war of extermination to be launched by the regime.”
The news about the government reinforcements could not be independently confirmed because of restrictions on news hounds. It came after the battle for Aleppo intensified on Wednesday when United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
observers there reported that Syrian jets had fired rockets into contested neighborhoods and that rebels had commandeered tanks and other heavy weapons.