Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad fought with rebels in the commercial hub of Aleppo in a deadly battle that set fire to an ancient marketplace that was once a tourist attraction.
Fighting in the country’s largest city continued for the third day in what insurgents said would be a “decisive battle” to control Aleppo. Rebels captured four neighborhoods, Al Jazeera reported, citing an interview with a local activist. Syrian government troops killed 104 people yesterday across the country, including 61 in or around the capital Damascus, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mailed statement.
International efforts to end the 18-month conflict have failed to stop the violence as rebels continue the fight, begun in March 2011, to overthrow Assad. The conflict has killed 30,000 people, according to estimates by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group.
Fighting has been deadlocked in Aleppo since rebels pushed into the city in July. Government forces have resorted to heavy weaponry, including attack aircraft, helicopter gunships and artillery, to dislodge rebels from their positions.
The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria said at least two military helicopters were damaged when rebel fighters fired mortar shells at a military airport in Aleppo.
Hundreds of shops were burned in Aleppo’s historic market, the Souk al-Madina, Al Jazeera reported. Videos showed black smoke hanging over the city and a wall of flames in what appeared to be one of the market’s passageways, the New York Times reported. The medieval souk, with vaulted stone alleyways, carved wooden doors and shops filled with silk, spices and other luxury goods, is part of Aleppo’s Old City, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The two sides have blamed each other for damage in Aleppo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, the Times reported. Activists told Al Jazeera that army snipers were making it difficult to approach the marketplace and they blamed heavy shelling and gunfire for causing the blaze.
Rebels said they had taken control of Bab Antakya, a stone gateway to the Old City, while other activists said fighting was continuing, Al Jazeera reported.
To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at [email protected]; Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Fighting in the country’s largest city continued for the third day in what insurgents said would be a “decisive battle” to control Aleppo. Rebels captured four neighborhoods, Al Jazeera reported, citing an interview with a local activist. Syrian government troops killed 104 people yesterday across the country, including 61 in or around the capital Damascus, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mailed statement.
International efforts to end the 18-month conflict have failed to stop the violence as rebels continue the fight, begun in March 2011, to overthrow Assad. The conflict has killed 30,000 people, according to estimates by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group.
Fighting has been deadlocked in Aleppo since rebels pushed into the city in July. Government forces have resorted to heavy weaponry, including attack aircraft, helicopter gunships and artillery, to dislodge rebels from their positions.
The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria said at least two military helicopters were damaged when rebel fighters fired mortar shells at a military airport in Aleppo.
Hundreds of shops were burned in Aleppo’s historic market, the Souk al-Madina, Al Jazeera reported. Videos showed black smoke hanging over the city and a wall of flames in what appeared to be one of the market’s passageways, the New York Times reported. The medieval souk, with vaulted stone alleyways, carved wooden doors and shops filled with silk, spices and other luxury goods, is part of Aleppo’s Old City, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The two sides have blamed each other for damage in Aleppo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, the Times reported. Activists told Al Jazeera that army snipers were making it difficult to approach the marketplace and they blamed heavy shelling and gunfire for causing the blaze.
Rebels said they had taken control of Bab Antakya, a stone gateway to the Old City, while other activists said fighting was continuing, Al Jazeera reported.
To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at [email protected]; Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]