Syrian troops blast rebels in Aleppo areas
31 July 2012 3:29 PM IST
Regime forces blasted a string of rebel-held districts in Syria’s most populous city Aleppo with shells and machinegun fire before dawn Monday, according to activists.
The shelling was focused on the southwest district of Salaheddin, a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army, made up of deserters and armed civilians, said the Syrian Revolution General Commission.
The Local Coordination Committees, made up of activists on the ground, said the eastern neighbourhood of Sakhur was also hit by shells and also by machinegun fire, with regime forces deploying helicopter gunships against the rebels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, said that clashes between troops and rebels erupted early morning near the airforce intelligence headquarters in Aleppo’s Zahraa district.
The violence comes as the army pressed an offensive against rebels in Syria’s commercial capital into a third straight day, and followed a day in which at least 67 people were killed across the country, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
The regime assault on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, a city of 2.5 million inhabitants, began after military reinforcements arrived on Saturday.
The United Nations estimates that around 200,000 civilians have fled the fighting in Aleppo and that many more are trapped.
Head of UN humanitarian operations, Valerie Amos, requested that relief organisations be granted “secure access” to the northern city.
NAIL IN ASSAD’S COFFIN: PANETTA
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Sunday that the assault on his own population in Aleppo would be a nail in his coffin.
Fighting raged on the second day of a fierce government offensive, as the United Nations said 200,000 civilians had fled and many were trapped after Al-Assad deployed tanks and attack helicopters to try to dislodge the rebels.
The Syrian opposition says government forces are preparing to carry out “massacres” and is pleading the international community to provide heavy weapons to enable rebels to meet the regime onslaught.
‘It’s pretty clear that Aleppo is another tragic example of the kind of indiscriminate violence that the Assad regime has committed against its own people,’ Panetta told reporters on a military plane en route to Tunisia.
‘And in many ways, if they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think ultimately it will be a nail in Assad’s coffin,’ he said. ‘He’s just assuring that the Assad regime will come to an end by virtue of the kind of violence they’re committing against their own people.’
According to Panetta, Assad has ‘lost all legitimacy, and the more violence he engages in, the more he makes the case that the regime is coming to an end.’ It’s no longer a question of whether the regime will fall, ‘it’s when,’ he added.
More than 20,000 people have been killed, including 14,000 civilians, since the uprising against Assad’s rule erupted in March 2011, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ‘The United States and the international community have made very clear that this is intolerable, and have brought diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria to stop this kind of violence, to have Assad step down and to transition to a democratic form of government,’ Panetta said.
ISRAEL SEES NO THREAT OF CHEMICAL ATTACK
Israel’s defense minister, in an apparent allusion to Syria, says that no country in the world would ‘dare’ to attack the Jewish state with chemical weapons.
Ehud Barak told Israel Radio on Monday that he’s so sure that an attack won’t happen that he’s willing to turn in his government-issued gas mask. Last week, Syria threatened to unleash chemical and biological weapons if it faces a foreign attack a threat widely believed to have been directed at Israel.
Israeli leaders, including Barak, have indicated they would attack Syrian arms depots to keep anti-Israel militants from getting their hands on chemical weapons should the Syrian regime collapse.
The shelling was focused on the southwest district of Salaheddin, a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army, made up of deserters and armed civilians, said the Syrian Revolution General Commission.
The Local Coordination Committees, made up of activists on the ground, said the eastern neighbourhood of Sakhur was also hit by shells and also by machinegun fire, with regime forces deploying helicopter gunships against the rebels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, said that clashes between troops and rebels erupted early morning near the airforce intelligence headquarters in Aleppo’s Zahraa district.
The violence comes as the army pressed an offensive against rebels in Syria’s commercial capital into a third straight day, and followed a day in which at least 67 people were killed across the country, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
The regime assault on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, a city of 2.5 million inhabitants, began after military reinforcements arrived on Saturday.
The United Nations estimates that around 200,000 civilians have fled the fighting in Aleppo and that many more are trapped.
Head of UN humanitarian operations, Valerie Amos, requested that relief organisations be granted “secure access” to the northern city.
NAIL IN ASSAD’S COFFIN: PANETTA
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Sunday that the assault on his own population in Aleppo would be a nail in his coffin.
Fighting raged on the second day of a fierce government offensive, as the United Nations said 200,000 civilians had fled and many were trapped after Al-Assad deployed tanks and attack helicopters to try to dislodge the rebels.
The Syrian opposition says government forces are preparing to carry out “massacres” and is pleading the international community to provide heavy weapons to enable rebels to meet the regime onslaught.
‘It’s pretty clear that Aleppo is another tragic example of the kind of indiscriminate violence that the Assad regime has committed against its own people,’ Panetta told reporters on a military plane en route to Tunisia.
‘And in many ways, if they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think ultimately it will be a nail in Assad’s coffin,’ he said. ‘He’s just assuring that the Assad regime will come to an end by virtue of the kind of violence they’re committing against their own people.’
According to Panetta, Assad has ‘lost all legitimacy, and the more violence he engages in, the more he makes the case that the regime is coming to an end.’ It’s no longer a question of whether the regime will fall, ‘it’s when,’ he added.
More than 20,000 people have been killed, including 14,000 civilians, since the uprising against Assad’s rule erupted in March 2011, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ‘The United States and the international community have made very clear that this is intolerable, and have brought diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria to stop this kind of violence, to have Assad step down and to transition to a democratic form of government,’ Panetta said.
ISRAEL SEES NO THREAT OF CHEMICAL ATTACK
Israel’s defense minister, in an apparent allusion to Syria, says that no country in the world would ‘dare’ to attack the Jewish state with chemical weapons.
Ehud Barak told Israel Radio on Monday that he’s so sure that an attack won’t happen that he’s willing to turn in his government-issued gas mask. Last week, Syria threatened to unleash chemical and biological weapons if it faces a foreign attack a threat widely believed to have been directed at Israel.
Israeli leaders, including Barak, have indicated they would attack Syrian arms depots to keep anti-Israel militants from getting their hands on chemical weapons should the Syrian regime collapse.
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