Syria | Rebels pull back further as military gains in Aleppo

Smoke rises after rebel fighters launch a mortar shell on residential neighborhood in west Aleppo

Syrian government troops and allied militiamen seized more ground in Aleppo’s ancient quarters yesterday, further widening their control over an enclave in the divided city that has been in rebel hands since 2012, Syria’s state media and an opposition monitoring group said.

With the latest gains, the endgame for Syria’s largest city, which has been carved up between the government and the rebel side for the past four years, appeared to draw even closer. If Aleppo — Syria’s former commercial hub — is captured by government troops, it would be a turning point in the conflict, putting the four largest cities in Syria and the coastal region back under state control.

Rebel defenses have collapsed rapidly in the face of a massive government assault backed by Russia and thousands of Iranian-
backed Shiite fighters. On Tuesday, Syrian government forces captured Aleppo’s centrally located al-Shaar neighborhood from the rebels, security nearly three quarters of the besieged enclave less than two weeks after launching their ground offensive.

The state news agency SANA said yesterday that Syrian forces established control over two districts north of the Aleppo Citadel in the heart of the city — the Aghiour and Bab al-Hadid neighborhoods — after rebels abandoned positions and retreated further south.

The new gains have choked the rebels, forcing them to pull back to other parts of the Old City, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks Syria’s civil war, now in its sixth year.

A Syrian army soldier places a Syrian national flag during a battle with rebel fighters at the Ramouseh front line, east of Aleppo

In a statement, the Observatory said dozens of bodies littered streets stretching from al-Shaar to the southern part of eastern Aleppo, including the Old City, as a result of ongoing intense government bombardment.

A map provided by the Syria army showed a quickly shrinking opposition enclave— a pointed leaf-shaped territory in the center, abutting already government-controlled Aleppo districts. The army media said the new gains bring the area controlled by the government in eastern Aleppo to about 73 percent of its original size, which is estimated to be about 45 square kilometers.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian rebels on yesterday’s losses. Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in eastern Aleppo and an outspoken government opponent, said the rebel retreat from large parts of Old Aleppo was a “bad sign.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Russian colonel who worked as a military adviser in the government-controlled part of Aleppo has died in rebel shelling.

The fatality marks Russia’s third casualty this week, after two nurses were killed in a rocket attack on a makeshift Russian military hospital in Aleppo. The ministry said in a statement yesterday that Col. Ruslan Galitsky was wounded in rebel shelling of a government-controlled neighborhood several days earlier and has died of his wounds.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected a cease-fire for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has forced rebel retreats and massive displacement of Aleppo civilians. Sarah el Deeb, Beirut, AP

Gov’t says Israel launched missiles

The Syrian government says Israel has launched several surface-to-surface missiles that hit near a military airport west of Damascus, triggering a fire. The official news agency SANA says the missiles were launched early yesterday from inside the “occupied territories” and fell within the perimeter of the Mezzeh military airport on the western edge of the capital. It added that no injuries were report. It was the second such Israeli strike into Syria recently, according to the Syrian government. Last week, SANA said Israeli jets fired two missiles from Lebanese airspace toward the outskirts of Damascus, in the Sabboura area.The Israeli military declined to comment on that incident, and there was no immediate comment on yesterday’s attack.

Iraq launches new push in southeast Mosul

After weeks of unchanging front lines, the Iraqi army rolled yesterday into a southeastern Mosul neighborhood held by Islamic State militants, taking a hospital before meeting stiff resistance, the military said.

The push began just after 6 a.m. with a barrage of airstrikes that kicked up dark clouds of smoke in the modest al-Salam residential neighborhood. The bombardment by Iraqi air support and the U.S.-led coalition appeared heavier than previous operations in the area.

Coalition forces providing logistical support could be seen about 4 kilometers from the front.

Iraqi troops also reported fewer car bombs than in previous assaults. After one such attack, at least two military vehicles could be seen carrying wounded from the front.

By evening, Iraqi forces had only secured a few hundred meters and clashes continued. MDT/AP