Saturday 17 October 2015
Survivors of the regime’s barrel bombs are fleeing Syria’s second city in showdown between east and west
After many scares and several false starts, the crucial battle for Syria’s second biggest city has begun.
For more than a year the southern edges of rebel-held Aleppo have been a wasteland. Regime soldiers have been fixed in their positions several kilometres from the battered city limits, while rebels have shored up defenses on their side of the ruins.
Now, three weeks into Russia’s intervention in the Syrian war, there is movement on one of the conflict’s most static fronts. And opposition forces don’t like what they are seeing.
“The regime advanced six kilometres [on Friday] and they took three villages,” said Zakaria Malafji, a member of the Free Syrian Army inside Aleppo. “The Russians showered us with bombs even in the civilian areas. They want to clear everything so the regime tanks and even the soldiers on foot can advance.”