Syrian government forces use tanks and fighter aircraft to win the battle of Aleppo 0608124

Conflict in the World - Syria War

Monday, August 6, 2012, 10:52 PM

Syrian government forces use tanks and fighter aircraft to win the battle of Aleppo.

Syrian opposition activists are reporting continued attacks by government forces with tanks and fighter aircraft in the northern city of Aleppo Monday, August 6, 2012. Syrian government forces fighter aircraft pounded rebel positions in second city Aleppo on Sunday, August 5, 2012, ahead of a threatened ground assault by more than 20,000 troops assembled around the commercial capital.

Free Syrian army soldiers capture a Syrian government army tank T-72 in a neighbourhood currently under their control in the northern city of Aleppo on August 4, 2012.

Syrian troops shelled rebel-held Salaheddin district in the southwest and clashes erupted in the neighbourhoods of Sukari, Hamdaniyeh and Ansari neighbourhoods.

Tanks pounded alleyways where rebels sought cover. One shell hit a building next to the Reuters reporting team, pouring rubble on to the street and sending billows of smoke and dust into the sky.

Rebel commanders say they anticipate a major Syrian army offensive in Aleppo and one fighter said they had already had to pull back from some streets after army snipers advanced on Saturday under cover of the fierce aerial and tank bombardment.

A senior government security figure warned at the weekend that “the battle for Aleppo has not yet begun, and what is happening now is just the appetiser... The main course will come later.” The official said at least 20,000 troops were now on the ground.

The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said the army had killed “hundreds of terrorists” in Aleppo but that between 6,000 and 8,000 remained.

In Damascus, troops backed by fighter jets have kept up an offensive against the last rebel bastion there in recent days.

A bomb blast rocked the Syrian state TV headquarters wounding several people just two days after the army said it had seized the last rebel-held area of the capital.

Syrian government army troops are deployed on August 4, 2012 in the Damascus suburb of Tadamun, the scene of heavy fighting earlier. The Syrian army now has the whole of the capital under its control, a brigadier-general told journalists visiting the southern neighbourhood which the general said was retaken by government forces in the afternoon, adding that it was the last rebel bastion in the city to revert to army hands.