Syria Army Preparing for Aleppo Battle
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syria's army prepared Sunday to launch an assault on Aleppo aimed at driving rebels out of the northern city and surrounding province, a security source told Agence France Presse.
The preparations came five days after the army and Hizbullah seized Qusayr in center-west Syria, a year after the strategic region had fallen into rebel hands.
"It is likely the battle for Aleppo will start in the coming hours or days, and its aim is to reclaim the towns and villages (under rebel control) in the province," the source said on condition of anonymity.
"The Syrian Arab army is ready to carry out its mission in this province," the source said, without giving further details.
Analysts say its success in Qusayr has given the army the confidence to try to suppress the insurgency elsewhere in the strife-torn country.
Pro-regime daily Al-Watan said Sunday the army has "started to deploy at a large scale in Aleppo province, in preparation for a battle that will be fought in the city and its outskirts".
Rebels in July 2012 launched a massive assault on Aleppo, once Syria's commercial hub. The city has suffered daily regime bombardment and clashes pitting insurgents against troops.
Al-Watan also said "the Syrian army will take advantage of its experience in Qusayr and Eastern Ghouta (near Damascus) to advance in the (central) province of Hama and Homs" nearby.
"The consequences of the battle for Qusayr will... map out the contours of Syria's political future," the daily added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday that the regime was deploying "thousands of soldiers" in the Aleppo region, who aimed to recapture rebel positions and to cut off their weapons supply routes from Turkey.
The Britain-based monitoring group also said Hizbullah had sent "dozens of its cadres to train hundreds of Syrian Shiites in combat".
President Bashar Assad's Alawite community is an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while the majority of rebels are Sunnis.
Activists in Homs, where an army siege of rebel-held areas entered its second year on Sunday, said the city may be next in line for army operations.
"Qusayr was the regime's main focus in the province. Now, we fear they may shift their attention to Homs city," said Yazan, a Homs-based activist who spoke to AFP via the Internet.
09 June 2013, 19:35
15
Loyalty does matter , which you guys don't have , yes to answer your question , any help counts to drive out these Salafists / Wahibist Cannibals out to deep sea !!!!!
09 June 2013, 19:53
23
To put the record straight against the distortions and lies of the monstreous regime, this is the summary of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world "Syria responded to months of peaceful protests with brutal force involving indiscriminate air and artillery assaults on residential areas and apparent targeting of civilians, and torture, which constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, pushing the political confrontation into an internal armed conflict. The opposition is increasingly conducting offensive operations. Some opposition forces have carried out serious abuses like kidnapping, torture, and what appear to be extrajudicial executions. The spread and intensification of fighting have led to a dire humanitarian situation with hundreds of thousands internally displaced or seeking refuge in neighboring countries."
09 June 2013, 16:46
00
No worries. Jabhat al-Nostras warriors cannot wait to confront the "ASSad" regime and "Hizbushaitan" fighters just as they did when they... well... umm... duh... ran away like pussycats through tunnels in al-Qusayr leaving the foreign "Syrians" from Chechnya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Libya, Turkey, Lebanon and other remote dumps fight to death for the causes of freedom, democracy and human organ devouring. The difference is that this time the Nostras are led by wonderboy NostraHarrier with NostraAllouchti his second-in-command. This does not in any way shadow the indispensable NostraDamsels: NostraBenzona, NostraPeace, NostraGeha, NostraMustafaO3amYeghliGhali, NostraGabbyMarch14 and NostraPrimeSuspect, to name a few. al nasrou atin baynama al nousra 3am yamoutin bil ouloufatin wal 3azrawatin moufarchikhatin wa 7amiyatin. bel ro7, bel dam, fada ejrak ya cheikh sa3d.
09 June 2013, 18:00
74
Ya la keep on keeping on , drive these Cannibals out to sea with UBL .
09 June 2013, 18:18
55
This is all media war, qusair is 1 third the size of Sidon, surrounded, bombed to oblivion, and yet managed to hold on for 20 days and Hezbollah suffered 200 killed and hundreds more wounded, what would be their figures after few months? The rebels just took inkhil in daraa and getting close to claim the whole raqaa province (4 times the size of Lebanon), eventually hezb will suffer the same fate of bashar's forces: fatigue and high casualties of a war of attrition against the Syrian people.
09 June 2013, 18:19
43
Terroristas will assist the murderous regime.... shame on anyone taking part is this mass murder.
09 June 2013, 19:04
85
imagine a world where farsis are not trying to dictate their agenda on lebanon and let us organize our country and work on our economy. Imagine them getting off our back and letting lebanon be.
But then again ur avatar is a lion, so u dont really think of lebanon, u represent assad, the oppressor of lebanon.
09 June 2013, 19:06
00
assad who enjoyed the time when he was controlling lebanon without incurring any personal casualties, is now having the same taste in his mouth at a scale he never imagined possible. Reality shows that Assad has lost the game because by resorting to HA to fight the battle for him is crystal clear that he has no more forces he could rely on to carry out the mission. HA, on the other hand, could have enjoyed Qasyr winning, but on the long run he will exaust his forces, incur thousands of men killed in battle, and ultimately retreat as he did when Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006; this time, though, he will retreat to nowhere because the Syrian free army will hunt him out of his hole and meet the fate of Gaddafi. i admonish HA to retreat now before it's too late for them to do that later on.
09 June 2013, 19:19
53
no! no! hezbis said they are pulling out of syria because their goal is just defending lebanese villages.....
09 June 2013, 19:44
55
Surgical strike , down with the Free Savage Animals ( FSA) Al nusra & co. what a bunch of Cannibals dirty smelly ugly son of a witches !! Aleppo , Aleppo will be freed soon , very soon from these devil cult !!!!
09 June 2013, 20:03
33
dude just wait and see .... what will happen to your friends in Aleppo .
till then don't release hot air so often.
10 June 2013, 10:52
00
superhabil! U rule! 'we' the lebanese people will clean u and all farsi dogs up very soon, and ure bearded animal will swim soon next to binladen.. u still havent learned that the only strong party in the region is the USA? all animals with beards will be extincted soon the new world is here... there is no man of god, there is only GOD!!
10 June 2013, 10:11
00
Syria is going to be partionned and so the region will follow... Russia and U.S are equally evil and playing the same game by tearing the society down into pieces and then all will be possible and acceptable.
