Fierce fighting broke out in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday as rebels attacked an army checkpoint near the capital, killing nine soldiers, monitors said.
Hours after a fire tore through a historic souk in Aleppo, fighting erupted in and around the Old City as rebels tried to seize control the district, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Since last week, much of the fighting has focused on the area around the Old City, and this is believed to have sparked the fire in the centuries-old souk which destroyed many shops, said an AFP correspondent and the Observatory.
Meanwhile the army subjected several of the city’s districts to intense shelling, and battled rebels in the northern district of Jandul, said the Observatory.
“There were many rebels and soldiers killed, but both sides are trying to conceal their casualties,” Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Among the districts shelled by the army overnight were the southwestern neighbourhood of Salaheddin, the main theatre of combat between rebels and troops in mid-summer, the Britain-based watchdog said.
In Damascus province, the rebel Free Syrian Army attacked an army checkpoint on the road linking the southwestern town of Qatana to the capital, killing nine soldiers, the Observatory said.
The FSA also attacked a checkpoint in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, killing four soldiers, the monitoring group said.
Many areas of both Damascus province and Deir Ezzor have suffered intense army assaults, as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad tries to crush the insurgency.
Also in Damascus province, soldiers backed by aerial firepower stormed the rebel stronghold of Harasta as regime forces carried out arrest raids in the town of Zabadani, said the Observatory.
across Syria killed at least 118 people on Saturday — 48 civilians, 41 soldiers and 29 rebels, the Observatory said, adding to its toll of over 30,000 killed since an anti-regime uprising erupted in March 2011.
Suicide car bomb in Syria’s Kurdish region kills 4: TV
A suicide car bombing in Qamishli, a Kurdish city in northern Syria, killed at least four people Sunday, state television reported, but a human rights group said that eight members of the security forces died in the blast. “A suicide terrorist using a car laden with explosives attacked the western district of Qamishli,” said the state broadcaster, adding that at least four people were killed. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher death toll and said the attack targeted a security headquarters. “At least eight members of the security forces were killed, and 15 were injured,” said the Britain-based monitoring group, adding that the blast was followed by heavy gunfire. Amateur video uploaded on YouTube by activists showed a cloud of thick smoke rising over the city. This was the first time since the outbreak of an anti-regime revolt that Qamishli witnessed such a violent attack, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. “It is the only city with a Kurdish majority that still has a solid security presence,” Abdel Rahman said, adding that the target of the blast was a regional security headquarters for Kurdish districts. Abdel Rahman said that the military pulled out of Kurdish regions in the north, including Qamishli, several months ago and that the rebel Free Syrian Army has no presence whatsoever in the city. But a small number of autonomous fighters are still there.
Erdogan tells Syria allies to stop backing ‘brutal’ regime
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged China, Iran and Russia Sunday to end their support for the Syrian regime, warning that “history will not forgive” their stance in the face of mounting bloodshed. “Please rethink your current attitude. History will not forgive those who have sided with these brutal regimes,” Erdogan said in a speech at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Erdogan, a one-time ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has become a fervent critic of the regime since a peaceful uprising against Damascus turned into a bloody revolt. Russia, a traditional Damascus ally, and China have blocked all UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict that according to activists has now left around 30,000 people dead in 18 months. Shiite-led Iran is Syria’s closest regional ally and is accused by several Western and Sunni-led Arab nations of providing military aid to Assad’s regime. Turkey backs the Syrian rebels and Erdogan said it is also hosting about 91,000 refugees from the conflict in several border camps.
