(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime troops exchanged fire with rebels in the contested northern city of Aleppo on Thursday in a renewed bout of fighting that could further mar peace talks underway in Geneva.
Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery were bombarding rebel-held parts of the city and its suburbs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby.
The pro-government Addounia TV said one person was killed and five people were wounded by mortar rounds fired by insurgents into the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city.
The fighting came a day after Syrians in government-held parts of the country voted for a new parliament - balloting that the opposition has dismissed as a sham and that could further undermine the peace talks. Those negotiations resumed Wednesday in Geneva, with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting Syrian opposition representatives. The government is expected to join the talks on Friday, a delay that was explained by the elections.
Aleppo has seen sporadic clashes despite a U.S.-Russia-engineered truce that went into effect in late February. Government forces and their allies have rebel-held parts of Aleppo almost surrounded from all sides, except for a corridor from the northwestern edge of the city.
"Areas close to the front lines are tense," said al-Halaby, the activist, speaking via Skype as explosions were heard in the background. He said several shells are falling every minute on the city and its suburbs.
The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another opposition monitoring group, reported violence in other parts of the country, including the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition struck areas controlled by ISIS near Syria's border with Turkey, according to a Turkish news agency. The militant IS group and Al-Qaeda's Syria branch known as Nusra Front are not part of the cease-fire in Syria.
Coalition jets struck ISIS militants in the villages of Souran, Hawar Kilis and Kafra, reported the private Dogan news agency. The report said smoke rose from the strikes and that sounds of explosion and gunfire were heard from across the border.
The Observatory also reported the airstrikes, saying they came amid clashes between ISIS fighters and rebel groups in the area.
Rebels have taken back 6 villages from ISIS were lost to ISIS early Thursday including he village of Hawar Kilis and the area around it, local reporter said.
The villages in northern Syria lie across the border from the Turkish town of Kilis, which has been the scene of near-daily rockets and shelling from ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. One person was killed and several people were wounded from such rocket fire on Wednesday.
IRAN'S COMMANDOS
A well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl that at least 1200 soldiers from Iran's regular army have joined the ongoing fighting in northern Aleppo province, ten days after Tehran announced the deployment of army commandos to help Bashar al-Assad,
At least 12 Iranian C-130 crafts were landed in al-Neirab military airport this week carrying about 1200 commandos who were deployed in Aleppo battlefields.
Commenting on the deployment of Brigade 65 to Syria, the commander of ground forces, Brigadier General Hamidreza Pourdastan, said last Monday it was Iran's new strategy to send more advisers in support of Assad.
Tehran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided military and economic support to his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants.
To date, most Iranians involved in the Syrian war have been from the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran is believed to have sent hundreds as military advisers.
Four soldiers in Iran's regular army were killed in Syria four days ago, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.
But an officer in the Iranian army's ground force said last week that commandos from the army's Brigade 65 and other units were sent to Syria as advisers.
"Four of the first military advisors of the Islamic Republic's army...were killed in Syria by takfiri groups," Tasnim reported. Iran refers to the hardline Sunni Islamists as takfiris.
Sheikh Abdullah al-Mouhaisni, top Saudi Jihadist fighting and Shariah Judge of powerful, Ahrar la-Sham Movement, said in video statement that scores of Iran's paramilitary militias have been killed in the ongoing clashes of Tallet al-Eis town and neighboring hilltops in the southern countryside.
The clashes to capture the strategic Tallet al-Eis town renewed early Tuesday as regime forces and its allied Shiite militias and fighters from the Iranian army press to capture southern districts of Aleppo to cut off rebels supply routes.
Al-Mouhaisni said rebels had surprised the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps by a series of suicide bombing that left dozens militants dead.
Local Sham New agency said at least 50 militants killed by rebels.
Also Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin – one of President Bashar Assad's staunchest allies – said Moscow has shored up the regime army to the point where it can conduct offensive operations largely on its own following a Russian military drawdown.
As an illustration of the Syrian army's success, Putin, who spoke in a marathon call-in TV show, said that after Russia withdrew some warplanes from Syria, the Syrian army was able to recapture the ancient town of Palmyra from ISIS.
Putin also expressed hope the truce will help Syrian peace talks in Geneva and pave the way for a new constitution and an early election. (With AP, Reuters)
Government warplanes, helicopter gunships and artillery were bombarding rebel-held parts of the city and its suburbs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby.
The pro-government Addounia TV said one person was killed and five people were wounded by mortar rounds fired by insurgents into the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city.
The fighting came a day after Syrians in government-held parts of the country voted for a new parliament - balloting that the opposition has dismissed as a sham and that could further undermine the peace talks. Those negotiations resumed Wednesday in Geneva, with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting Syrian opposition representatives. The government is expected to join the talks on Friday, a delay that was explained by the elections.
Aleppo has seen sporadic clashes despite a U.S.-Russia-engineered truce that went into effect in late February. Government forces and their allies have rebel-held parts of Aleppo almost surrounded from all sides, except for a corridor from the northwestern edge of the city.
"Areas close to the front lines are tense," said al-Halaby, the activist, speaking via Skype as explosions were heard in the background. He said several shells are falling every minute on the city and its suburbs.
The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another opposition monitoring group, reported violence in other parts of the country, including the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition struck areas controlled by ISIS near Syria's border with Turkey, according to a Turkish news agency. The militant IS group and Al-Qaeda's Syria branch known as Nusra Front are not part of the cease-fire in Syria.
Coalition jets struck ISIS militants in the villages of Souran, Hawar Kilis and Kafra, reported the private Dogan news agency. The report said smoke rose from the strikes and that sounds of explosion and gunfire were heard from across the border.
The Observatory also reported the airstrikes, saying they came amid clashes between ISIS fighters and rebel groups in the area.
Rebels have taken back 6 villages from ISIS were lost to ISIS early Thursday including he village of Hawar Kilis and the area around it, local reporter said.
The villages in northern Syria lie across the border from the Turkish town of Kilis, which has been the scene of near-daily rockets and shelling from ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. One person was killed and several people were wounded from such rocket fire on Wednesday.
IRAN'S COMMANDOS
A well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl that at least 1200 soldiers from Iran's regular army have joined the ongoing fighting in northern Aleppo province, ten days after Tehran announced the deployment of army commandos to help Bashar al-Assad,
At least 12 Iranian C-130 crafts were landed in al-Neirab military airport this week carrying about 1200 commandos who were deployed in Aleppo battlefields.
Commenting on the deployment of Brigade 65 to Syria, the commander of ground forces, Brigadier General Hamidreza Pourdastan, said last Monday it was Iran's new strategy to send more advisers in support of Assad.
Tehran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided military and economic support to his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants.
To date, most Iranians involved in the Syrian war have been from the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran is believed to have sent hundreds as military advisers.
Four soldiers in Iran's regular army were killed in Syria four days ago, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.
But an officer in the Iranian army's ground force said last week that commandos from the army's Brigade 65 and other units were sent to Syria as advisers.
"Four of the first military advisors of the Islamic Republic's army...were killed in Syria by takfiri groups," Tasnim reported. Iran refers to the hardline Sunni Islamists as takfiris.
Sheikh Abdullah al-Mouhaisni, top Saudi Jihadist fighting and Shariah Judge of powerful, Ahrar la-Sham Movement, said in video statement that scores of Iran's paramilitary militias have been killed in the ongoing clashes of Tallet al-Eis town and neighboring hilltops in the southern countryside.
The clashes to capture the strategic Tallet al-Eis town renewed early Tuesday as regime forces and its allied Shiite militias and fighters from the Iranian army press to capture southern districts of Aleppo to cut off rebels supply routes.
Al-Mouhaisni said rebels had surprised the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps by a series of suicide bombing that left dozens militants dead.
Local Sham New agency said at least 50 militants killed by rebels.
Also Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin – one of President Bashar Assad's staunchest allies – said Moscow has shored up the regime army to the point where it can conduct offensive operations largely on its own following a Russian military drawdown.
As an illustration of the Syrian army's success, Putin, who spoke in a marathon call-in TV show, said that after Russia withdrew some warplanes from Syria, the Syrian army was able to recapture the ancient town of Palmyra from ISIS.
Putin also expressed hope the truce will help Syrian peace talks in Geneva and pave the way for a new constitution and an early election. (With AP, Reuters)
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