Syrian rebels launch big assault as Russia pauses air strikes

29 October 2016

Syrian rebels launched a major assault on Friday aimed at breaking a months-long siege of opposition-held districts of Aleppo, as the Assad regime's ally Russia did not renew air strikes.



Control of the city, divided between the rebel-held east and the west in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, is key to securing northern Syria.


Rebel groups "announced the start of the battle to break the siege of Aleppo", said Abu Yusef Muhajir, a military commander and spokesman for the Ahrar al-Sham faction.

The assault "will end the regime occupation of western Aleppo and break the siege on the people trapped inside", he told AFP.

Rebel groups now control "most" of the vast neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad, southwest of Aleppo, with the exception of an area close to a military academy, according to the Britain-based Observatory.


Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since 18 October but the Russian military said on Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume air strikes.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment", adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-ravaged city.


The United States on Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war - a war crime under the Geneva Conventions - stepping up the rhetoric against Assad and his Russian backers.

Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP," the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo - using starvation as a weapon of war".

Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east.




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