Syrian Forces Press Attack in East Aleppo
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Syrian government forces and their allies pressed an offensive in Aleppo on Thursday night and into Friday with ground fighting and air strikes as part of a push to retake all of the northwestern city.
A military source told Reuters, "Until now 32 neighborhoods have been liberated out of an original 40 in east Aleppo... The advance is going according to plan and is sometimes faster than expected."
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government rocket attacks continued overnight into Friday morning on frontline areas of east Aleppo.
The Syrian military, which is in control of the western part of the city, has been fighting to wrest back its militant-held east. So far it has reclaimed over 85 percent of the eastern part.
Damascus has called on the terrorists holed up in Aleppo’s east to lay down arms and surrender. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered for those militants choosing to stop fighting to be granted amnesty.
The recent army gains have flown in the face of the unstinting financial and military support, which many foreign states have been providing to the terrorists since 2011 to secure the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian aircraft have been lending support to the Syrian military’s counterterrorism operations since last September, but have withheld fire likewise from time to time due to humanitarian concerns.
Moscow currently maintains a permanent airbase at the Hmeymim facility in the Syrian port city of Latakia, about 86 kilometers north of Tartus. The outpost was established on the back of an August 2015 Russo-Syrian agreement.
On Wednesday, it was reported that the Russian government was about to finalize an agreement on the country’s establishment of a permanent naval base in Syria, too.
Amid the Syrian military’s advancements on the ground and the prospect of further Russian involvement in the anti-terror push, some Western states, including France, have called for the implementation of a ceasefire in Aleppo, citing a need for secure corridors for the transfer of humanitarian aid to the city.
However, Russia and Syria are against lengthy ceasefires in Aleppo, arguing that such pauses would enable the Takfiri militants operating there to regain strength.