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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian army launches most intense attack in years on rebels trying to seize Aleppo |
| 2015-07-04 |
| [ABC.NET.AU] Syrian government forces have carried out heavy air strikes on rebel positions in and around the northern city of Aleppo, aiming to repel a major Islamist-led offensive on areas controlled by president Bashir al-Assad. The attack, the most intense bad boy offensive in Aleppo in three years, aimed to build on recent advances against Mr Assad by an array of groups fighting on separate fronts, including Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... and rebels backed by his regional foes. Later, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? showed scores of bodies of armed combatants, saying the army had killed at least 100 Lions of Islam in the counter-offensive. Aleppo, 50 km south of the Turkish border, was Syria's most populous city before the country's descent into civil war. It has been partitioned into zones of government and bad boy control since 2012. Aleppo is of vital importance to Mr Assad, and losing it would further entrench a de facto partition of Syria between western areas still governed from Damascus and the rest of the country run by a patchwork of militias. Fighting between the Lions of Islam and government forces in Aleppo raged into the early hours of Friday. Syrian air and army strikes on rebel emplacements were continuous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring the war, said. A Syrian military source said the attack had been repulsed and heavy casualties had been inflicted on the bad boys. He added that the air force and artillery had been used to target the rebels, who he said had used heavy weapons in their attack. Rami Abdulrahman from the Syrian Observatory said rebel forces had seized some buildings from government control on the northwestern city outskirts of Jamiyat al-Zahra. He later said the Lions of Islam were making headway in a part of western Aleppo that would get them closer to the heart of the city. At least 35 Lions of Islam were killed in that area, including a dozen Syrians and many others of central Asian origin, Mr Abdulrahman said. |
| Posted by:Fred |