Syrian forces break rebels' long siege of prison in Aleppo

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The latest from Syria.

Syrian forces break rebels' long siege of prison in Aleppo

PATRICK J. MCDONNELL,NABIH BULOS

The Syrian government makes strategic and symbolic gains by ending the prison siege in AleppoSyria may see Aleppo as another Homs; rebels say don't bet on itSyrian government forces have broken a long siege on the strategically situated prison in the northern city of Aleppo, government and pro-opposition groups said Thursday.
The advance of tanks and troops into the sprawling prison complex on the northeastern edge of Aleppo is the latest victory for government forces ahead of the presidential election scheduled for June 3.

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Syrian forces break rebels' long siege of prison in Aleppo*-*Los Angeles Times

 

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Aleppo could decide Syria's war...

Battle for Aleppo could prove final reckoning in Syria's war
Saturday 24 May 2014 ~ Pro-Assad forces are poised to cut off rebel supply lines and end nearly two years of insurrection in the ruined city

High spring in Syria's largest city and the final battle has arrived. From his vantage point on a frontline in Aleppo's northeast, Abu Bilal, a rebel commander, had spent the past month staring at a ridge line about a mile away that marked the closest Syrian military position. A large white house, the one building still standing, had been the target for the only tank his men had. It shimmered in the rising heat and, at times, figures seemed to appear briefly in the distant haze. Were they really there?

There was nothing illusory about the Syrian soldiers and tanks that appeared last Thursday, though. Just after dawn, the ridge and the cobalt sky erupted with an intensity that Bilal and his unit had not seen in the two-year fight for Aleppo. After surging to life, then stalling so often, the battle they had been braced for – and possibly a definitive reckoning on who will prevail in Syria's war – was upon the rebels defending the Sheikh Najjar area. The district's factories and mills had long been an engine room of Syria's economy. Now they are crucial to its destiny. "They are trying to encircle the city," said one rebel leader from a room in a pock-marked house. "And this time they think they can do it."

Later that day, the worst fears of the opposition fighters were about to be realised. Just to their north, the Aleppo central prison, seen by both sides as a vital target, had been breached by regime soldiers, fighting with a battalion of Iraqi Shia irregulars. Gaining control of the prison would allow government forces to start to close the gap between the north-east of the city and their stronghold in the north-west. Such a move would further compromise the rebels' already vulnerable supply lines and make their campaign to hold Aleppo close to impossible. Inside the ancient city – one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban centres in the world – the strains are already showing. Next to nothing moves here. Throughout almost two years of chaos and insurrection, residents who remained in the rebel-held east took to the streets during meal times. They drove their cars, walked to mosques, shopped in markets in between bombing raids. Not any more.

A motorcyclist and his passenger drive past a site in Aleppo hit by what rebels said were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Aleppo is eerie and abandoned. Its streets seem cleaner and better-kept than before, mainly because there are so few residents left. The only messes to clean up are caused by regular bombing raids by Syrian planes and helicopters, which destroy homes and buildings with unmitigated savagery. In some districts near the eastern fringes, up to 30% of all buildings have been demolished. Whole neighbourhoods have been emptied, or are down to their last hardy souls, many of whom have no option but to stay. Abu Mahmoud was at the mosque when a barrel bomb destroyed half of his house in the Shaar district in February. He spent the rest of the winter living in the other half, exposed to the elements and still-constant menace from the skies. He says he expects to die there. "What am I going to do?" he asked plaintively, offering tea in china cups salvaged from the ruins. "This has become a war that is far bigger than any of us. The country is being destroyed, and the region is being sucked into a hole from which it can never recover. "This could have all been avoided if people spoke to each other from the beginning, if leaders acknowledged that the people have the right to expect things from them."

Further east, towards Aleppo's airport, which was taken back by regime forces this year, Hamid Mahmoud and his extended family were moving back into their home. A group of young girls were hosing out a courtyard – the mains water had been turned back on earlier in the week, one of few mercies in this unforgiving war. In one room, older women were tending a stove. And in the only other room, six men were sitting silently in the gloom. "Four days ago my wife was killed," said Mahmoud. "We had moved to Bustan al-Basha [another suburb of east Aleppo] and a barrel bomb hit our house. It was 10 at night and I dragged her body out of the bricks. He stares silently ahead, tears welling as he describes how two badly wounded girls were rescued by neighbours. Both have been taken to a hospital in Turkey.

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Assad got Obama to thank for the delay of weapons & supplies to the rebels.


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Deadly mortar attack hits Assad gathering in Syria
May 23, 2014 — A mortar shell struck a large tent where supporters of President Bashar Assad had gathered for election campaigning in southern Syria, killing at least 21 people and wounding many others, opposition activists said Friday.

State media reported the mortar strike late Thursday, saying it killed and wounded an unspecified number of civilians inside the tent. Assad, rarely seen in public since the start of Syria's 3-year-old conflict, has not been seen campaigning since he declared his candidacy last month and was not at the gathering in the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising against his rule began in March 2011. More than 160,000 people have been killed in the fighting as the revolt morphed into a civil war that has also sent millions fleeing for their lives and turned once-prosperous cities into rubble-strewn warzones.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Rebels trying to overthrow Assad frequently fire mortar shells into Syria's major cities, including the capital, Damascus, from opposition-held suburbs. The overnight attack underscored concerns that rebels will step up attacks against government strongholds in the run-up to the June 3 election to disrupt the voting. Western leaders and opposition groups have described the vote held amid the civil war as a sham.

A Syrian army soldier walks in front of Aleppo prison in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, May 22, 2014. Syrian troops backed by airstrikes broke a yearlong rebel siege of a prison in the northern city of Aleppo Thursday, allowing President Bashar Assad's forces to close in on a nearby command center of a coalition of Islamist rebel groups, opposition activists said.

Ahmad Masalma, an opposition activist in Daraa, said rebels from the Free Syrian Army umbrella group fired a mortar shell at the tent in a government-held area after repeatedly warning civilians to stay away. He said there were about 100 people in the tent, including members of pro-Assad militias, officers and employees. More than 25 people were killed and the rest wounded in the attack which "set the tent ablaze and sent shrapnel flying everywhere," he said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists on the ground for its reports, also said the shelling targeted an "electoral tent" and killed 21 people, including 11 civilians. In Syria, rallies and other public gatherings by Assad's supporters are being held, often in tents, in some government-controlled parts of the country ahead of the election. Assad is widely expected to win a third, seven-year mandate. Masalma said the mood was celebratory at the tents, festooned with posters of Assad and Syrian flags. "They have loud music and Dabka," he said, referring to a traditional foot-stomping dance. "It's very provocative and an insult to the blood of martyrs."

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The victory are with the Syrian people.