Syrian aircraft pounds Aleppo, rebels say Assad troops retreat

PanARMENIAN.Net -

Syrian combat aircraft and artillery pounded two areas of Aleppo on Tuesday, July 31 as the army battled for control of the country's biggest city, but rebel fighters said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been forced to retreat, Reuters said.

Large clouds of black smoke rose into the sky after attack helicopters turned their machineguns on eastern districts for the first time in the latest fighting and a MiG warplane later strafed the same area.

The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides in the 16-month-old rebellion. Neither Assad's forces nor the rag-tag rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.

Heavy gunfire echoed round the Salaheddine district in the southwest of the city, scene of some of the worst clashes, with shells raining in for most of the day.

Reuters journalists have established that neither the Syrian army nor rebel fighters are in full control of the quarter, which the government said it had taken at the weekend.

Salaheddine resembled what one journalist called a "ghost town", its shops shuttered, with no sign of life in its apartment buildings and its streets mostly devoid of traffic.

Rebel fighters, some in balaclavas and others with scarves around their faces, fired machine guns and assault rifles around street corners at invisible enemies. Wounded civilians and fighters were carried to makeshift dressing stations.

Syrian state television said on Tuesday troops were still pursuing remaining "terrorists" there - its usual way of describing rebel fighters.

A rebel commander in Aleppo said his fighters' aim was to push towards the city center, district by district, a goal he believed they could achieve "within days, not weeks".

The rebels say they now control an arc that covers eastern and southwestern districts.