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Subscribe to RSSOn Wednesday Syrian troops pushed even farther into the key city of Aleppo where rebels are running short on much-needed supplies. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assaulted rebel strongholds in Aleppo on Wednesday in one of their biggest ground attacks since rebels seized chunks of the country's biggest city three weeks ago.
Assad must win the battle for Aleppo if he is to reassert his authority nationwide, although diverting military forces for an offensive to regain control there has already allowed rebels to seize large swathes of countryside in the north.
Aleppo, at the heart of Syria's failing economy, has taken a fearful pounding since the 17-month-old uprising against Assad finally took hold in a city that had stayed mostly aloof.
"We have retreated, get out of here," a lone rebel fighter yelled at Reuters journalists as they arrived in Aleppo's Salaheddine district. Nearby checkpoints that had been manned by rebel fighters for the last week had disappeared.
Satellite images show Syria's bombardment of Aleppo, Amnesty says
Syrian state television said government forces had pushed into Salaheddine, killing most of the rebels there, and had entered other parts of the city in a new offensive.
Everyday more wounded Syrian rebels are brought in to Turkey and treated in border hospitals run by Syrian doctors and volunteers. Medical supplies are in short supply and the hospitals underequipped. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
It said dozens of "terrorists" were killed in the central district of Bab al-Hadeed, close to Aleppo's ancient citadel, and Bab al-Nayrab in the southeast.
'Situation is desperate' at makeshift hospitals on Syrian-Turkish border
But a rebel spokesman in Salaheddine, the southern gateway to Aleppo, denied Assad's troops had taken full control. "Syrian forces are positioned on one side of Salaheddine but they haven't entered and clashes are continuing," Abu Mohammed said.
According to the BBC, Wassel Ayub, a commander from the rebel Free Syrian Army, told the AFP news agency by phone: "For an hour and a half the Free Syrian Army has staged a counter-attack and reclaimed three streets out of five seized by regime forces."
Another FSA commander, Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, told AFP news agency via Skype, according to the BBC: "It is not true the regime army has seized control of the district. It is true that there is a barbaric and savage attack."
NBC News
People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.
One activist with the rebel Free Syrian Army, who asked not to be named, said insurgents had fallen back to the nearby neighborhood of Saif al-Dawla, which was now under fire from army tanks inside Salaheddine and from combat jets.
Reporting from Aleppo, Al Jazeera's correspondent Ahmed Zaidan said "a large number of people have been killed or injured in a fierce battle near Salaheddine in which advanced Russian tanks have been used by the government forces."
Also reporting from Aleppo, journalist Martin Chulov, of the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper tweeted Wednesday: "Spent afternoon in Salahedin [sic] #Aleppo. No regime troops inside. Battlelines have not shifted. Lots of shelling and helicopters."
Bodies recovered from destroyed home near Aleppo
The intensity of the conflict in Aleppo and elsewhere suggests that Assad remains determined to cling to power, with support from Iran and Russia, despite setbacks such as this week's defection of his newly installed prime minister.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition watchdog, said more than 60 people had been killed across Syria on Wednesday, including 15 civilians in Aleppo. It put Tuesday's death toll at more than 240 nationwide.
Struggle for survival
Satellite images released by Amnesty International, obtained from July 23 to Aug. 1, showed more than 600 craters, probably from artillery shelling, dotting Aleppo and its environs.
"Amnesty is concerned that the deployment of heavy weaponry in residential areas in and around Aleppo will lead to further human rights abuses and grave breaches of international law," the human rights group said, adding that both sides might be held criminally accountable for failing to protect civilians.
The military's assaults in Aleppo follow its successful drive to retake neighborhoods seized by rebels in Damascus after a July 18 bomb attack that killed four of Assad's closest aides, including his feared brother-in-law Assef Shawkat.
On Monday Assad suffered the embarrassment of seeing his prime minister, Riyad Hijab, defect after only two months in office. Hijab apparently fled to Jordan with his family.
Yet even such high-profile defections and outside diplomatic pressure seem unlikely to deflect Assad from what has become a bitter struggle for survival between mostly Sunni Muslim rebels and a ruling system dominated by the president's minority Alawite sect, an esoteric offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Jordan's King Abdullah said he believed Assad would stick to his guns. "He believes that he is in the right. I think that the regime feels that it has no alternative but to continue," the monarch told U.S. broadcaster CBS.
He said Assad might try to carve out an Alawite enclave if he could not control of all Syria, describing such a territorial breakup as the "worst-case scenario" for its neighbors.
"If Syria then implodes on itself that would create problems that would take us decades to come back from," Abdullah said.
Assad has little sympathy in Jordan or other Sunni-ruled Arab nations, but he can count on staunch support from Iran, whose Shiite leaders see Syria, along with Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, as a pillar of an "axis of resistance" against the United States and Israel.
Sarkozy urges action
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy called on Wednesday for rapid international intervention in Syria, likening its conflict to the early days of war in Libya in which he mobilized NATO-led action that helped rebels oust Moammar Gadhafi.
Breaking a long silence since losing May's presidential election to Socialist Francois Hollande, Sarkozy said he had spoken at length to Syrian opposition leader Abdulbaset Sieda this week and they agreed on the need for foreign intervention in the uprising against Assad.
"They noted a total convergence in their views on the seriousness of the Syrian crisis as well as the need for rapid action by the international community to avoid massacres," said the statement signed by Sarkozy and Sieda, who is president of the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council.
In contrast with Libyan conflict, Western powers are wary of intervention in Syria due to Assad's alliances with Russia and Iran, and Syria's position at the heart of sectarian divisions that radiate across the Middle East.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy called on Wednesday for rapid international intervention in Syria, likening its conflict to the early days of war in Libya in which he mobilized NATO-led action that helped rebels oust Moammar Gadhafi.// The French are the real rebels.hmmmm so much for Hilary she tried to take credit LOL..I am glad they take blame for Libya before Obama does. I mean really Assad has an army he should have kicked ass by now , sloppy dictator ehh !. Assad should chase them to all four corners and take up a draft for food program then he would be somebody. A trained military against a bunch of rambling libs come on now. This is going to be a hornets nest. Obama will want to start a draft after the election. Send USA young men over there to do the job for them ehh. who luvs ya !
Some ones been drinking and blogging today... ramblings of incoherency are the first tell-tale sign of a worried and troubled opponent.
What ajgorn???? This dictator will sooner or later be hung or shot by his own people.His own army is turning agains him.His days are numbered.As for Obama starting up the draft..that´s absurd.You get the booby prize for the day for making the most ridiculous comments..
Sarkozy and co took monies from Gaddhafi too. For Iraqi wars, Tony Blairs and co took monies and favors indirectly!
Now Hillarys & co, Sarkozy's are preparing for money collections all over the world for their next elections. So they are busy touring.
Saudis, oil companies, lobbyists and Jewish lobbyists are experts in throwing crumbs to these cheap people! Look at how they outsourced Iraqi wars!
Syrian rebels are supported by the Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB and others.
In other places, Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB and their Saudi proxies consider the US, west others as No. 1 and infidels!
With out the US and NATO forces intervening, Assad can't be over thrown!
Instead of Assad being thrown out, it should barbaric and beastly Sunni Saudis and co.
If atrocities and barbarism on girls, children and women are the criteria, then the most despotic, autocratic and bigoted Sunni Saudi ruler with his 5000 princes and princesses, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League Sunni rulers and their rich sheiks are the biggest culprits in the history.
Through the Muslim immoral trafficking gangs, these barbarians have assembled all varieties of poor and helpless girls and women from all over the world in their harems and brothels.
In killing of opponents again, these people have established world records. All in the name of religion!
You got it Fiesty red head..We do as we did in WW2 we become neutral and let them fight it out first then when it gets real bad come in with the real fire power and end it for good ending up on top again like aFTER WW2 ehh ! If we are going to make a ground asault we go in this time and end it once and for all. We will make you the Supreme Ruler of Iran for starts Fiesty .. let it rock !
The US needs to stay out of this mess. If we help, they will turn the wepons we provide on Israel and the US forces in the region. If we don't help, they will not like us - but they don't now, so . . . If the US really needs to get involved - arm the Christians. When the Islamists take over (and they will) the Christians will need all of the protection they can muster.
Islamists or Assad ? Wonder which is worse.
Another FSA commander, Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi: "It is not true the regime army has seized control of the district. It is true that there is a barbaric and savage attack."
Look at the Sunni Islamic religious Nazi and beast talking!
Shiites and Sunnis are busy battling whose Allah is greater.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Even in Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Are we not committing hara-kiri by supporting our enemies and killers?
The UN should send white cloths to the rebels, so they can quickly surrender, which they should have done a long time ago. I wish they could figure this out, so their people would not have to suffer. I find it very unethical for them to continue fighting, forcing the government to continue pounding their cities. It's so sad.
Your trolling Kung Fu is not strong, grashopper.
What the __— are you even talking about? Rebels forcing the gov to pound their cities? I wouldn't want you on my team for sure. You have a very warped understanding of this whole business of revolution there Chirs!
oh, I just think if they gave up, there would be no more fighting, thus the US would no longer get roped into it.
Ever notice how cowardly dictators really are? They do not stand behind their militaries...they find holes to hide in. He will eventually be found like every single coward before him. I only hope it he is found alive by just the right people willing to deliver just the right justice. I wonder if his wife still thinks she is the real dictator these days?...lol.
I can see something like this playing out in the US if Repugnicans gain control in November. Repugnicans are all about a controlling, tyrannical government that infringes on personal liberties under the guise of anti-terrorism. Just as in Syria, freedom-loving US citizens will be rebelling against Tea Traitor shock troops, with the rest of the civilized world providing support in spirit.
That's very Optimistic of you...lol.
What are you talking about. It was Obama that infringed on my personal liberty by ramming an unconstitutional healthcare system down my throat. A couple more moves like he has pulled and I could see impeachment in his future.
@Steve972 Our civil liberties were infringed after September 11th. And more will be infringed if another Republican takes office. And as far as the healthcare being unconstitutional.... Show me what's unconstitutional about it? It's about time people in America start carrying health insurance. It's people like you and the rest of the population that don't carry health insurance and you people abuse the system and I have to pay for it through the rise in my premiums. Buck up and be responsible!
Well w/e we do, don't upset Russia or no more trips to the space station for us.
You guys are unbelievable the latest i heard about the Rebels that they are working hand in hand with al-
Qaida terrorists..what is wrong with this country are they helping alqaida now..this is very sharmful and we should all ask ourselves who are our real enemy is. This country should thanks the Syrian Army who is fighting those terrorist thugs. What is wrong with you people i don't understand. Corruptions all over the world. I hate politics
Hey redhead b*tch, you go to hell. They have a right to believe what they want and to practice it without some stupid lib or muslim fanatic interfering. You are the one who should die.
FiestRedhead Why don't go there and try to kill all THE CHRISTIANS YOURSELF , HELL your dream man ( Mr. Obama) and his Hillary already helping these thugs and getting the money from the same people that attacked us on 9/11 , ( the Saudis and QATARIS ) , and you said in your other comment , Syria have 1 million Iraqi refugees from the Iraqi war , the one we caused , I DID NOT ASSAD COMPLAINING TO THE UN AND ASKING FOR HELP LIKE THESE WHINY TURKS . Syria have never done anything to the US , hell they helped us in the first Iraq war , How come we excepted Assad help back then , was not he a bad man then ??? we so full of BS its not even funny , and this Richard Alqaida Engel , just now he decided Alqaida in Syria , or simply because we caught up to his lies , hell he is embedded with these thugs and he knows they are Alqaida , he was with them in Libya , and then the other one Aiman ( Alzawahri ) hell he was reporting from Cairo Egypt all the time and quoting the rebel sources , what kind of honest reporting is that ??? what kind of low level our media has stooped down to .
The U.S. wants a destablized Middle East so they can increase their presences there. You ask why? Simple answer... OIL!!!!! Yes I know Syria isn't an oil producer but the simple fact that the U.S. could control Syria and put up another base. After that takes place look for military action against Iran which is an oil producer and look for the possible start of WWIII.
Not sure if any of you seen the little documentary of Zeitgeist... Came out in 2007. Can't say how much of it is B.S. but watch it now and see were we are today and it starts to add up. Just saying.
You bet!
If atrocities and barbarism on girls, children and women are the criteria, then the most despotic, autocratic and bigoted Sunni Saudi ruler with his 5000 princes and princesses, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League Sunni rulers and their rich sheiks are the biggest culprits in the history.
Through the Muslim immoral trafficking gangs, these barbarians have assembled all varieties of poor and helpless girls and women from all over the world in their harems and brothels.
In killing of opponents again, these people have established world records in religious battles.
If the US, Britain and others support such Sunni barbarians and beasts who treat girls and women as cheap sex slaves, then one can only conclude that Saudis, oil companies and their lobbyists determine what to see, how to lecture and where and when to act.
Rest like “human rights”, “killing of children and women”, “militants”, “terrorists”, “WMDs”, “chemical weapons” and so on are a pure hoax.
Similar hoaxes were played each time before Iraqi wars on directions of Saudi, oil companies and their lobbyists.
Now none of them are looking into Iraq, where at least a million have been killed and devastated.
Twice are too much to tolerate.
let them kill each other, and then hillary clinton and go and dance there.
Assad's tanks will turn into coffins as they enter the heart of the city where every manhole, windows, doors, and corners lurk anti-tank RPGs, Improvised Explosives, and tank traps. The minority government, the Alawite, is finished.
I just wish the press or the politico's or anybody would provide something, anything to show this is not just another idiotic contest for power between Sunni and Shi'a. I have seen nothing to indicate this is anything we should be in any way involved with. Neither side seeks anything but control for the economic benefits derived from the subjugation of the other. This fight has been going on in Islam for a thousand years and more. None of them has a clue that the first and most important part of democracy is tolerance. They have none. They have no notion of democracy other than there is more on my side so by majority rule I have the right to take everything. The rest of you are heretics and should have nothing.
No comments but watch these videos and judge yourselves to what extent is Terrorism is spread!!
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/must-watch-iran-bashing-terrorism-and-who-chose-the-chosen-people-anyway/
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/255098.html
Assad can kill at least half of the rebels and rebel sympathizers for a few thousand dollars by poisoning all water sources not under his control using cyanide. Without water, this civil war will be over in 3 days and Assad can kill the rest of the weakening rebels with his bare hand. The beauty of this plan is that he can claim it on some insane rebels and executed some of them for that crime after his police "find" some cyanide in their possessions.
The fight in Syria is basically a fight between two sects of Islam - the Sunni & the Shia. Bashar Assad belongs to one of the Shia factions - the Alawites, a small but powerful clan in Syria. Iran and Hezbollah are also Shia. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are mainly Sunni. It is a fight for control of Syria. Turkey would love to have Syria as a Sunni controlled protege ans Saudi would like to clip Iran's wings. Also Saudis would love to avenge the murder of Hariri by Hezbollah.
China and Russia want to prove a point. They lost face in Libya. So, this time Russians did not want to lose a warm water port in Mediterranean. So the fight was evenly matched. In the long run Sunnis will win because of superior numbers in population and western support through Turkey.
Turkey will want a unified Syria with Sunni control as they do not want Syrian Kurds clamoring for autonomy and eventually independence. I think Kurdistan will become a reality in few decades. Iraqi Kurdistan is fully autonomous and has oil and gas to be self sufficient financially. Russia and China will want to avenge Turkey by dividing Turkey into western Turkestan and Eastern part to be amalgamated into Iraqi Kurdistan.
This scenario will come into being in few decades. The beneficiaries will be Greece, Bulgaria, Armenia and Israel. Lebanon, unless joins hands with Israel will be again plagued with religious fights.
However, the Syrian conflict ends, there is no happy ending for many of the players.
What a bunch of cowards Shiites are? They talk big, act big and show their bravery before unarmed minorities like Jews, women and others. Then they add their dances when they stone them.
Shiites of Iraq should side with Kurds and should stop oil supplies to Turkey for supporting the Sunni Islamic extremists like al-Qaida, MB in Syria.
Shiites of Bahrain should overthrow their autocratic, corrupt and despotic Sunni ruler.
As they have been taking blows and killings by Sunnis, these Sunnis are able to act as they like to Shiites.
Shiites of Iran should side with Assad and see that all the Sunni rebels are eliminated.
What are the brave Hezbollah doing?
They should do suicide bombings in Mecca and Medina. Or else Shiites genocides just like the genocides of non-Muslims by the Sunni Islamic religious Nazis will continue.
It's never enough to stress King Abdullah of Jordan's note on how Assad may retreat to Alawite sect which is extremely noteworthy. Why is that? Because Russians have sensed the same too. As some reports said, Russians have sent their naval vessels to their overseas base at Syrian port of Tartus.
And Tartus is part of Alawite sector.
It's also interesting to note current Syrian conflict and its aftermath, inevitably involving Russia/Iran/Israel,etc are foretold in the Bible and if it is so, then we can expect it to be quite intricate of which can be read here:
su.pr/86MF11
Assad may look 'winning' for now, but that's what it was like for Gaddafi too.
So all things considered together,
what lies for Syria is going to be far worse than post-1980 Lebanon.
I was really sacred of Mitt Romney Illinois visit but thanks God he had reappeared with unchanged ears. I was scared not only by new Assad but also for another suspected brother - Russian PM - Dimitri Medvedev.
In difference, he is aware of his Luftwaffe replacement and sometimes even uses him to appear together with Vladimir Putin.
But the train he has took could be same that killed Tzar Nicolaus II. It is better for both - Lenin and Tzar- to be not divided by Tuchachevski, as his bootle revolution cannot bring anything good. Both are already in power. Power that they can loose...
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Everyone cough (Muslims) want us to help them and when we do what do we get out of it. Two years down the road same old s**** burn our flag hate us Christians doesn't it say somewhere in your hateful Quran it's okay to use us for the better good of urself I mean look at the dumb s*** we do for paki yet they hate our guts and yet they're playing both sides of the field., takin our tax money and giving to the enemies Damn shame we let the world take advanage of our kindness when we should worry bout our own country..our country was much stronger 10... 20 years ago wtf happen
The real prob is u rep and dems keep hating each other learn to be as 1. United we stand remember we hate on each other, truth is no matter who wins it's all the same s**** everyone promise this that yet when they get into office nobody does 75% of the stuff they promised. So you are all losers for letting our gov trick yall just for ur silly lil vote. What we need it a real person thats going to focus on us and only us will we ever see such a thing naw because its all bout money right?
It would seem that the way things are going, a win by the Assad/Putin butchers would definitely highlight the perfidy of the Obama Administration.
Since its election time and since the Obama pupetteers know that the US public hates bullies, especially vicious and brutal ones like we have seen in Syria, the "secret" agreements by Obama to aid the rebels are either "secret" from the fighters, too, or just made out of whole cloth to deceive the American voters.
It would be entirely natural for Obama to favor Assad, since his "puppetteers" come from the leftist, totalitarian side of the political spectrum...I would not trust any "secret" plan of the Obama gang in this war.
Maybe this is why Russia and China are so entrenched ....and smug...in their support of Assad.....because they may know something the American voter does not.
I sure hope the right thing is done come November...
"Trust" is not his middle name...
All around the world, goverments are collapsing... its only a matter of time before it happens here... Obama is living in La La Land.... Why the hell should we care if a bunch of musilims want to kill each other?