Syrian rebels say fight for Aleppo has begun

Source: AP-Excite

By BASSEM MROUE

BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian rebels have launched an offensive to "liberate" the country's largest city of Aleppo, an opposition commander said Sunday, while in Damascus government troops backed by helicopter gunships wrested back control of rebel-held neighborhoods.

The fighting showed that even as President Bashar Assad's forces appeared close to regaining control of Damascus after days of intense street battles, the rebels could still mount a new operation in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and bedrock of support for the regime.

With Syria's civil war moving from the countryside and smaller cities into the country's two main urban centers, an activist group said the death toll had risen to more than 19,000 since the uprising began in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said July is shaping up to be the deadliest month in the conflict so far, with 2,752 people killed in the first three weeks.

The bloodshed has escalated as the rebels have taken the fight to the government with a week of fighting in Damascus, including a bombing that struck at Assad's inner circle and killed four senior regime officials. In a bid to seize the momentum, the opposition has also taken control of four border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, most recently the Bab al-Salamah post on the Turkish frontier.

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This citizen journalist image shows a dead body lying in the street in the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in south Damascus, Syria, Saturday, July 21, 2012. This week, fierce fighting between troops and rebels reached the Syrian capital, the central bastion of Bashar Assad's rule, shattering parts of the city and sending thousands of people fleeing to neighboring Lebanon and Iraq. Activists and residents reported a tense calm in Damascus Saturday but said sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard throughout the night. (AP Photo)