(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian opposition forces have recaptured ground lost to regime army and allied militias early Sunday in the battleground city of Aleppo, local reporter said.
The Jaish al-Fateh-led forces have opened a new front in the city as fighting spread on the third day of a major counter-attack to break the regime's siege on the eastern neighborhoods.
Jaish al Fateh said in a statement they were now moving into a second stage of the offensive after taking several areas with the goal of "ending the siege".
They called on residents of government-held areas in western Aleppo to stay at home or in underground shelters as they spread their offensive, saying they were coming to "liberate" their land. They urged the fighters not to harm anyone who did not carry arms.
The resistance forces, including both Free Syrian Army factions and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham, are seeking to end the siege by seizing regime-held areas of Aleppo, in an effort to link the city's rebel-held east with rebel-held rural areas to the west of the city.
Since launching the large scale assault on Friday, the resistance has deployed numerous suicide car bombs and heavy shelling of the city's western edge from bases in the countryside outside Aleppo.
"There are heavy street battles and the regime is now retreating from the area. Its only a matter of time and we will announce its liberation," Abu al Ansari, a fighter from Failaq al Sham, told Reuters in a Whatsapp message.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had confirmed reports of suffocation among regime fighters in two frontline areas shelled by rebels, but it did not know if chlorine gas was the cause.
The resistance said the army had shelled rebel-held Rashideen district with chlorine and shared videos purportedly showing victims with respiratory problems.
Aleppo, Syria's biggest pre-war city, has been divided for years between the government-held western sector and rebel-held east, which the army and its allies put under siege this summer and where they launched a new offensive in September that medics say has killed hundreds.
The Observatory said at least 38 people including 14 children had been killed in rebel shelling of regime-held areas of Aleppo in the last 48 hours.
Rebels and pro-government sites said most of Sunday's fighting concentrated on the 3000 Apartments housing project in the al-Hamdaniya area. Capturing it would bring the rebels to within several kms of the heart of the government-controlled area.
The resistance said the attack had started with preparatory shelling earlier in the day, while Russian planes resumed heavy bombing of their locations in west Aleppo - the latter also cited on pro-government sites.
There were conflicting accounts of the outcome of the fighting, however, with rebels saying they had taken some buildings in the residential area as they seek to penetrate heavily populated areas under state control.
The Observatory said suicide bombers were deployed on the outskirts of the neighborhood, a tactic used on Friday when insurgents seized Dahiyet al-Assad, a cluster of villas once occupied by top army officers about a square kilometer on the southwest corner of the city. (With Reuters)
The Jaish al-Fateh-led forces have opened a new front in the city as fighting spread on the third day of a major counter-attack to break the regime's siege on the eastern neighborhoods.
Jaish al Fateh said in a statement they were now moving into a second stage of the offensive after taking several areas with the goal of "ending the siege".
They called on residents of government-held areas in western Aleppo to stay at home or in underground shelters as they spread their offensive, saying they were coming to "liberate" their land. They urged the fighters not to harm anyone who did not carry arms.
The resistance forces, including both Free Syrian Army factions and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham, are seeking to end the siege by seizing regime-held areas of Aleppo, in an effort to link the city's rebel-held east with rebel-held rural areas to the west of the city.
Since launching the large scale assault on Friday, the resistance has deployed numerous suicide car bombs and heavy shelling of the city's western edge from bases in the countryside outside Aleppo.
"There are heavy street battles and the regime is now retreating from the area. Its only a matter of time and we will announce its liberation," Abu al Ansari, a fighter from Failaq al Sham, told Reuters in a Whatsapp message.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had confirmed reports of suffocation among regime fighters in two frontline areas shelled by rebels, but it did not know if chlorine gas was the cause.
The resistance said the army had shelled rebel-held Rashideen district with chlorine and shared videos purportedly showing victims with respiratory problems.
Aleppo, Syria's biggest pre-war city, has been divided for years between the government-held western sector and rebel-held east, which the army and its allies put under siege this summer and where they launched a new offensive in September that medics say has killed hundreds.
The Observatory said at least 38 people including 14 children had been killed in rebel shelling of regime-held areas of Aleppo in the last 48 hours.
Rebels and pro-government sites said most of Sunday's fighting concentrated on the 3000 Apartments housing project in the al-Hamdaniya area. Capturing it would bring the rebels to within several kms of the heart of the government-controlled area.
The resistance said the attack had started with preparatory shelling earlier in the day, while Russian planes resumed heavy bombing of their locations in west Aleppo - the latter also cited on pro-government sites.
There were conflicting accounts of the outcome of the fighting, however, with rebels saying they had taken some buildings in the residential area as they seek to penetrate heavily populated areas under state control.
The Observatory said suicide bombers were deployed on the outskirts of the neighborhood, a tactic used on Friday when insurgents seized Dahiyet al-Assad, a cluster of villas once occupied by top army officers about a square kilometer on the southwest corner of the city. (With Reuters)
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