Syrian rebels launch attack in Aleppo after government cuts road

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rebels launched an attack against government positions in the historic center of Aleppo on Monday, July 11 in response to an offensive that cut a road leading into the opposition-held sector of the city, monitors and insurgents said, according to Reuters.

The attacks, which involved the shelling of government-held neighborhoods and intense street fighting, came just days after the advance by the government side toward the Castello Road.

Rebels were relying on the road for supplies and access, and its severing effectively put opposition-held areas under siege, where at least 250,000 people live.

The city, Syria's largest before the war, has been a main battleground in the country's five-year civil war, and has seen an escalation of fighting after peace talks and a fragile ceasefire broke down earlier this year, Reuters says.

Its capture would be a strategic prize for the Damascus government, which controls the major population centers in western Syria, apart from rebel-held areas of Aleppo, and the city of Idlib. Rebels also control pockets of territory elsewhere in western Syria.

Kurdish forces control vast areas along the nearby Turkish border, and Islamic State holds territory in the east.

Early on Monday more than 300 shells fired by rebels hit western, government-held neighborhoods in Aleppo killing five people and wounding dozens more, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. State television said eight people had been killed and that the bombardments had brought down buildings.

The assault was "a response to the (government) attempts to advance," Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim group told Reuters.

He said insurgent fighters had already made gains, and that much of the fighting was taking place in Aleppo's historic Old City. A witness said there were fierce clashes at close range near the ancient citadel.