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Free Syrian Army launched an offensive to take the control of the city of Aleppo 2407121

Conflict in the World - Syria

Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 07:21 PM

Free Syrian Army launched an offensive to take the control of the city of Aleppo.

Free Syrian Army have launched an offensive to take over downtown Aleppo, battling Syrian government forces and intelligence personnel at the gates of the Old City, a United Nations World Heritage site, residents and opposition activists said.

A Syrian rebel runs in a street of Selehattin, near Aleppo, during an attack on the municipal building on July 23, 2012.

The city of Aleppo has been the scene of fierce fighting since Friday, July 20, 2012, with the country's second city emerging as the new front in the battle between rebel fighters and the Assad military.

Syrian rebels 'liberated' several districts of the northern city of Aleppo, a Free Syrian Army spokesman in the country's commercial hub said.

In Damascus, explosions and gunfire rocked the central district of Barzeh after government forces stormed in overnight, opposition activists said. Tanks prowled the streets of Midan, a neighborhood recaptured by the army from rebels on Friday.

Several shells landed in the southern suburb of Hajar al-Aswad, where Assad's forces have been trying to dislodge rebels.

Outside Damascus and Aleppo, Assad's forces have used artillery and helicopter gunships to keep rebel fighters off balance in the last few days, while avoiding ground incursions, rebel and opposition sources said, saying Deir al-Zor and al-Herak were among towns suffering such long-range bombardments.