Syria Troops Threaten Rebel Supply Route to Aleppo

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Syrian troops have seized a village just north of Aleppo that could allow them to cut off a supply line to rebel-held districts of the country's second city, a monitoring group said Friday.

Soldiers, backed by fighters from Lebanon's Hizbullah, took Handarat, four kilometers (2.5 miles) north of the ring road around Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

But the Observatory said rebels had sent reinforcements to Handarat, and that fierce clashes had broken out in the area.

A hill in the village overlooks the main supply route from Turkey into Aleppo.

"If the army keeps its hold on Handarat Hill, it can cut the delivery of supplies to the rebels," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory.

Aleppo has been divided since summer 2012 between loyalist sectors on its west side and rebel territory on the east.

Since late 2013, President Bashar Assad's air force has been carrying out an almost daily campaign of dropping barrel bombs on rebel areas. On Tuesday, eight people were killed in such strikes.

Comments 1
Missing peace 03 October 2014, 19:10

aleppo is a long way from the border villages hezbis pretended to defend... but then again who trusts the words of hezbis? a lying bunch of iranian mercenaries...