More at the link[Rooters] One of the biggest government offensives so far is south of the city of
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Revolutionary Brigades, said he had never seen anything like the attack that began on Oct. 16.
The attacking forces included 2,500 Iranian and Afghani fighters, and Syrian troops, said Abu Ahmed, the 36-year-old fighter, talking to Reuters from southern Aleppo. Radio intercepts in Farsi gave away the foreign participation.
"What changed for us was the huge, abnormal size, and intensity of the bombardment," said Abu Ahmed, using his nom de guerre and speaking via a web-based messaging system.
His group, another FSA faction which has received foreign military support including U.S.-made anti-tank, or TOW missiles, lost its commander in the fighting. But one week on, Abu Ahmed said the situation had improved.
"Yesterday there was a big Russian air strike, but we organized ourselves, with the rest of the factions. We are used to the new situation," he said. "We camouflage headquarters, and cars, and dig trenches," he said. "But the main factor is counter-moves - such as surprise attacks."
Additionally, the group has been resupplied with TOW missiles which had run out last week, said a member of the group's leadership council, Abu Ahmed Hani. "If (TOW supplies) stay like this then it is great, but the remaining ammunition is not at the required level," he said.
The Observatory says more than 350 fighters on the government's side have been killed in the last month, more than the 300 rebels it says have been killed in Russian air strikes. It did not have a figure for the number of rebels killed in ground battles. Reuters has no way to verify the numbers.
But FSA groups, including some that have received training from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, have been particularly badly hit. The FSA is a loose alliance of groups, mostly led by army defectors.
"There is a large attrition, particularly of anti-armor weapons," said Abu Hamed, the Jabhat Sham commander.
"The military equipment we have - be it tanks, cars or trucks, is being targeted directly. We lost two cars today."
In the wooded hills of rural Latakia, another focal point of the offensive, trench warfare is helping the rebels to stave off attacks despite their depleted numbers, said Yousef Hifnawi, a fighter in the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group.
"There are people who have not come out of the trenches for more than three weeks," he said.