Battles rage across Aleppo as Assad regime fights to quell rebels

Rebels in Syria’s second largest city were on Monday coming under intense aerial bombardment from forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, less than two days after they fought through regime lines to break the siege of rebel-held east Aleppo..

 

Activists say intense airstrikes have continued unabated after rebels seized Ramouseh, a district in south-west Aleppo, allowing them to open a corridor into the besieged areas.

 

“We are in our trenches but there are insane airstrikes of unprecedented ferociousness,” a commander in the rebel coalition told Reuters. “The regime is using cluster and vacuum bombs.”
Over the weekend, rebels in a coalition known as Jaish al-Fatah launched a lightning advance that sealed the conquest of Ramouseh, a key district through which supplies flow to government forces in west Aleppo. The advance followed a rare show of unity among the opposition, which began a campaign a week ago involving thousands of fighters working to break the siege.

 

The coalition includes Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which last month said it was severing ties with al-Qaida’s central command and played a key role in the battle.

 

Aleppo has been a battleground since 2012, when it was stormed by the opposition and divided into a regime-controlled western half and an east under rebel dominion. The east has been left in ruins, pummelled in an unforgiving aerial campaign by the Assad regime.

 

Read More: Battles rage across Aleppo as Assad regime fights to quell rebels | World news | The Guardian