Syria – Conflict

Syrian Army Makes Gains in Aleppo as Security Council Meets

Syrian Army Makes Gains in Aleppo as Security Council Meets
Fri Oct 7, 2016 15:00:12

Syrian government troops advanced gradually against rebels inside ravaged second city Aleppo on Friday, as the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the violence.

The assault on rebel-held districts of the divided city has raised international concern, with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura warning east Aleppo could be “totally destroyed” by year’s end.

Fierce fighting rocked several districts of the city, which has been divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since 2012.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces captured a hilltop in the Sheikh Saeed district in the south of the city, but the rebels retook other parts of the neighborhood previously captured by the regime.

The Britain-based monitoring group also reported clashes in the Salaheddin, Bustan al-Basha and Suleiman al-Halabi neighborhoods on the city’s front line.

More than 250,000 people remain in the east of the city, which has been under near-continuous siege since mid-July and has been pounded relentlessly since the government launched its offensive on September 22.

The rebels have responded by intensifying their rocket fire on west Aleppo, where four people were killed in the Midan neighborhood on Friday, state television reported.

On Thursday, rebel fire killed at least 11 people in the Al-Jamaliyeh neighborhood, the Observatory said; AFP reported.

S/SH 11

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