In one of the most important developments in the ongoing offensive to break the siege on Aleppo, rebel and FSA groups announced the capture of the Artillery College, a major regime base in the southern suburbs of the city. Rebel and FSA fighters continued to push east to link up with FSA fighters besieged in the city’s southwestern districts.
President of the Syrian Coalition Anas Alabdah welcomed the recent advances made by rebel and FSA fighters “who are fighting to liberate Syria from the Assad regime and the allied foreign militias.”
“Glory and praise be to the heroes who are writing a new chapter in Syria’s history with their blood and paving the way for the birth of a new Syria as the homeland of all the free Syrians,” Alabdah said.
Alabdah emphasized the need for further unity among the revolutionary forces. “Our unity in the battlefield will defeat the tyrant Assad and his masters who came to occupy the homeland,” he said. Alabdah pointed out that the spectacular gains made by rebel and FSA fighters are a clear message to the Assad regime, Iran and Russia that they will not be able to defeat the Syrian people or dictate the terms of a settlement.
Russia has been seeking to force civilians in the liberated parts of Aleppo out of their homes through the deliberate and repeated targeting of medical facilities and vital civilian facilities as well as the establishment of so-called safe exit passages for residents in the city, Alabdah said.
Russia’s proposal was met with an outcry from dozens of rights groups and local and international humanitarian non-government organizations.
Regime forces, backed by close Russian aerial cover and Iranian-backed foreign militias, have laid siege on the liberated parts of Aleppo since early July, trapping over 300,000 civilians inside. Russian and Assad regime air forces have escalated attacks on the city’s east since early June, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians as well as putting most of the medical facilities out of service. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
