The assault means the army is now pressing gunnies on several fronts near Syria's main cities in the west, control of which would secure
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
's hold on power even if the east of the country is still held by ISIS.
Aleppo, a commercial and industrial hub near the border with
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, was Syria's largest city before its four-year civil war, which grew out of protests against Assad's rule.
Control of the city, still home to two million people, is divided between the government and rebels.
"This is the promised battle," a senior military source in Syria said of the offensive backed by hundreds of Hezbollah and Iranian forces which he said had made some gains on the ground.
It was the first time Iranian fighters had taken part on such a scale in the Syrian conflict, he said, although their numbers were modest compared to the army force. "The main core is the Syrian army," the source said.
Hezbollah, which has supported Assad in several battles during the civil war, said the army was carrying out a "broad military operation," with support from Russian and Syrian jets, across a front at least 10 miles (15 km) wide from the southwest to southeast of Aleppo.