Unprecedented fighting in Aleppo: Syrians
29 Sep 2012 2:34 AM GMT
Fighting on an ‘unprecedented’ scale on Friday shook Syria’s second city Aleppo, where rebels have declared a decisive battle, residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
‘The fighting is unprecedented and has not stopped since Thursday. The clashes used to be limited to one or two blocks of a district, but now the fighting is on several fronts,’ said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Residents in the central districts of Sulimaniyeh and Sayyid Ali, previously spared the worst of fighting, also said that the violence and mortar fire from rebels was ‘unprecedented’.
‘The sound from the fighting and the gunfire has been non-stop. Everyone is terrified. I have never heard anything like this before,’ said a 30-year-old resident of Sulimaniyeh who only identified himself as Ziad.
The rebels, who have been vastly outgunned by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad throughout the more than 18-month conflict, declared an all-out assault for the northern city on Thursday.
And an AFP correspondent at the scene counted about 16 mortar shots from 1700 local time to 1930, with a shot about every 15 minutes in three army-controlled areas, including Sulimaniyeh and Sayyid Ali.
‘This is the first time I have seen something like this in Sayyid Ali. Normally there are two or three mortars,’ another resident said on condition of anonymity.
‘The fighting is unprecedented and has not stopped since Thursday. The clashes used to be limited to one or two blocks of a district, but now the fighting is on several fronts,’ said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Residents in the central districts of Sulimaniyeh and Sayyid Ali, previously spared the worst of fighting, also said that the violence and mortar fire from rebels was ‘unprecedented’.
‘The sound from the fighting and the gunfire has been non-stop. Everyone is terrified. I have never heard anything like this before,’ said a 30-year-old resident of Sulimaniyeh who only identified himself as Ziad.
The rebels, who have been vastly outgunned by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad throughout the more than 18-month conflict, declared an all-out assault for the northern city on Thursday.
And an AFP correspondent at the scene counted about 16 mortar shots from 1700 local time to 1930, with a shot about every 15 minutes in three army-controlled areas, including Sulimaniyeh and Sayyid Ali.
‘This is the first time I have seen something like this in Sayyid Ali. Normally there are two or three mortars,’ another resident said on condition of anonymity.
Next Story
