Foreign Affairs

bemildred

(90,061 posts) Sat Jun 25, 2016, 07:43 AM Jun 2016

Russia planes pound Aleppo as Syria army closes in

Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas of divided second city Aleppo on Saturday as government forces closed in on the rebels' sole remaining supply line, a monitoring group said.

An AFP correspondent in the rebel-held east of the city said the air strikes lasted throughout the night into the morning.

Aleppo, which was Syria's commercial and manufacturing hub before civil war broke out in 2011, has been a key battleground ever since rebels seized eastern neighbourhoods of the city the following year.

A two-day truce brokered by Moscow and Washington earlier this month in a bid to rescue a wider ceasefire expired without renewal and Russia warned it would press ahead with it air campaign, saying the rebels had failed to deliver on promises to break ranks with Al-Qaeda loyalists.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/russia-planes-pound-aleppo-syria-army-closes

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Russia planes pound Aleppo as Syria army closes in (Original Post) bemildred Jun 2016 OP

Syrian army unleashes broad offensive in Aleppo bemildred Jun 2016 #1

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

1. Syrian army unleashes broad offensive in Aleppo

Reply to bemildred (Original post)

Sun Jun 26, 2016, 10:25 AM

Jun 2016

DAMASCUS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has unleashed a "huge" military campaign against rebel-held areas in the northern province of Aleppo, advancing on four fronts at once, pro-government al-Watan daily reported on Sunday.

The military campaign was launched after midnight Friday, following airstrikes from the Syrian and Russian air forces, said the report.

According to the newspaper, Russia's air strikes on the rebels' positions in Aleppo and its northern countryside put pressure on the armed militant groups, forcing some of them to flee their positions, mainly in the Bani Zaid neighborhood east of Aleppo, where the rebels were targeting government-controlled areas in the western part of the city.

Al-Watan said the amount of firepower used was "unprecedented," citing local sources as describing the battles in Aleppo as "World War III."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-06/26/c_135467722.htm

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