Almost 70 percent of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and the country’s commercial heart, is under the control of forces against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed 13 areas of the city. According to information obtained by FSA officials, rebels attacked about 100 vehicles and destroyed 20 armored vehicles heading from the regime’s headquarters in Tartus to Aleppo on Thursday.
On the same day, opposition forces carried out an attack on Aleppo’s Hamedani Stadium, where 10,000 Assad soldiers were located and killed 13 of them. Opposition fighters also killed a group of 45 Shiites connected to Mukteda al-Sadr, an Islami Iraqi political leader. Residents said the bodies were sent back to Iraq.
Meanwhile, Assad forces targeted communication channels, cutting off all the means of communication in the city. The opposition has also received information claiming the Assad forces, although weakened in the city, are preparing a larger operation.
Christian families in Aleppo host Muslims fleeing from civil war
As the conflict in the cities of Aleppo and Daraa escalates, Christian families in the two cities have started to shelter Sunni Muslims fleeing for their lives. Officials say local Sunnis in Aleppo are having a hard time fleeing the city and so they either hide in the houses of local Christians or in the Aleppo University, where the number of locals sheltering has reached 15,000.
However, reinforcements from both sides continue to arrive as 4,500 Free Syrian Army soldiers have recently come from Idlib to Aleppo, while a large group of soldiers from Iran was sent to support the Assad regime. According to a claim among the locals, about 3,000 well-trained Iran soldiers have landed at regime-held Aleppo International Airport.
