Aleppo: rebels inflict humiliating defeats on Assad forces, kill scores

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Islamist rebel groups Wednesday have inflicted humiliating defeats on Bashar al-Assad forces and its allied Shiite militias in the northern countryside of Aleppo, taking control al-Ratyan village and Tal al-Mallah district in the last 48 hours, activists said.

At least 200 Assad fighters killed and dozens arrested in battles in and around the city of Aleppo, Rebel commanders and activists say.

Rebels on Wednesday have thwarted the second major offensive by regime forces in a week on Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Assad’s forces want to encircle the northern city and cut off insurgent supply lines.

Rebel commander in al-Shamiya Front assured to Zaman al-Wasl that the battles to be continued till the recapture all villages and strongholds seized by Assad forces last Monday.

The Assad army and allied combatants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group have also launched a large-scale assault in southern Syria against insurgents.

On Wednesday the main route leading north out of Aleppo to the Turkish border was blocked and under fire by pro-government forces, the founder of the Observatory told Reuters.

"The regime went forward a bit yesterday and the road is still closed," Rami Abdulrahman said. The army was controlling the route from positions it set up in the villages of Bashkuwi and Sifat on Tuesday on either side of the road, he said.

Insurgents can take another route north but it entails going northwest out of the city and circumnavigating army-held areas before heading north again. "It is the very long way around," he said. He also said poor weather prevented Syrian air force bombardment on Wednesday but fighting continued on the ground.

Aleppo is at the forefront of clashes between the Assad army and a range of insurgents, including Islamist brigades, al-Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front and Western-backed units battling al-Assad.

The United Nations is seeking a ceasefire there, a step towards addressing the crisis in Syria which is about to enter its fifth year.

On Tuesday United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the government was willing to suspend air strikes and shelling of Aleppo for six weeks so that a local ceasefire plan could be tested. But he played down prospects for wider progress.

"Every time there is a proposal of a ceasefire ... history has proven that there is some type of acceleration in order to take a better position," he said. "I fear that could be the case."

The Syrian conflict started in 2011 with protests against Assad and has descended into a civil war, drawing in foreign fighters on both sides. (With Reuters)