Outsourced FSA Fighters Put up a Heroic Fight against Regime’s Attempts to Encircle Aleppo

Activists said that the FSA fighters pushed regime forces out of wide parts of the town of Seifat north of Aleppo, killing and injuring many pro-Assad militants. Regime forces carried out air raids on the towns of Handarat and Bashkwi, while four civilians were killed on Friday evening in aerial bombardment on the neighborhood of Al Haidariya in Aleppo. Activists also said that with the advance made by regime forces in northern Aleppo, the Castello road is coming under direct fire by regime forces, thus threatning to cut off the FSA’s last supply route to Aleppo. Nasr al-Hariri, Secretary General of the Syrian Coalition, warns of the grave consequences of the inaction in proving support for the Free Syrian Army in the decisive battle against regime forces and ISIS in northern Aleppo. Activists said that regime forces took control of the village of Jubaila, the cement and glass factories near Aleppo Central Prison, thus linking up with regime forces stationed in the towns of Handarat and Sifat in addition to coming closer to the towns of Nibbul and Al Zahraa’. Hariri said that the Assad regime seeks through this advance to break the siege the rebels have laid on regime forces stationed in these two towns and consequently encircling the entire city of Aleppo and areas controlled by the FSA.” Moreover, he expressed astonishment at the insistence of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition to send ground troops to defend the town of Kobane while failing to provide support for the FSA which has fighting on two fronts against the Assad regime and ISIS. It should be noted that the FSA had expelled ISIS from rural Idlib and most of rural Aleppo in early 2014. We call on all FSA battalions in northern Syria to relieve their comrades in northern Aleppo, where battles are raging between the FSA and regime forces backed by Iranian and Hezbollah militias. We also call on the international anti-ISIS coalition to deliver urgent military support for the FSA in northern Aleppo to help it repel the regime’s attempts to encircle the city. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Aleppo Media Center + Smart News Agency)