Overnight regime shelling in Aleppo pushes rebels back

Bashar al-Assad's forces launched fresh airstrikes on western Aleppo, pushing back a coalition of rebel groups who had made advances over regime-held areas overnight.

MENA

2 min read

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04 May, 2016

Regime air raids continued to strike overnight and at dawn over western Aleppo's suburbs [Anadolu]

Ferocious clashes raged overnight between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and a coalition of rebel groups on the outskirts of Aleppo, pushing back advances made by the opposition group a day before.

Rebel factions, fighting under the name "Aleppo Conquest," launched a major assault on Assad's forces on Tuesday in the western suburbs of the city.

Regime air raids continued into Wednesday morning, as Assad's forces fiercely battled the rebel groups, a day after dozens fell casualty in fighting across the city.

Rebel fighters initially advanced from the western suburbs of the city into government-held districts, but were pushed back by Wednesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"A man, his wife and child were killed in bombing by warplanes over areas in Yaqed al-Adas village," the added.

At least 16 people were killed and 80 others wounded on Tuesday by rebel-launched rocket fire on government-controlled areas northern Aleppo, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

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Nearly two weeks of renewed fighting in the battered metropolis has left more than 270 civilians dead.

The violence was "the most violent in Aleppo in over a year," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The United Nations Security Council is set to hold emergency talks to discuss the crisis on Wednesday.

"Aleppo is burning... and its civilians are being killed," Britain's UN ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council, urging the member states into action.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to meet with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and Syria's main opposition leader Riad Hijab on Wednesday.

Over 270,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the war in Syria erupted over five years ago.