Syrian opposition forces on Thursday began the second stage of the battle to break the siege on the eastern districts of Aleppo, surprising regime forces with two simultaneous attacks on positions in New Aleppo and the 3,000 Apartments Project after three days of low-intensity confrontations.
The spokesman for the Suquor al-Sham Brigades, Mamoun Hajj Moussa told Alsouria Net that the opposition forces had entered the area of New Aleppo.
In the battle for Aleppo, opposition forces are pursuing a style of heavy covering fire on the targeted areas, followed up by attacking with a large number of fighters and car bombs to strike the regime’s first line of defense.
Two car bombs on Thursday struck regime forces positions in New Aleppo, and our correspondent in Aleppo, Mohamed al-Shafie, reported that the opposition forces had begun to push into the area, while another car bomb targeted regime positions in the 3,000 Apartments Project.
Moussa told Alsouria Net that “the aim of the battle is to liberate points which regime forces are holed up in successively, as a result of their powerful fortifications and the isolation of some military bases which can’t be stormed directly. For that reason, we’re minimizing the battles where the regime could be the winner because of the powerful military arsenal and high fortification.”
Noting the opposition attack on the New Aleppo area, it seemed that the regime forces expected opposition forces to resume their attack from the 3,000 Apartments Project area, because it would more quickly achieve the opposition aim of breaking the siege on the eastern districts.
Moussa said that the choice of the opposition forces to attack the project area and New Aleppo at the same time aimed to “divide the attention of the regime forces again and approach the points of contact with Assad’s militias and thereby leading in the inability to use air weapons to achieve large results on the ground, and maybe even neutralize it completely. In light of the absence of effective anti-aircraft, this could be better.”
Moussa pointed out that the opposition forces had currently entered the districts of New Aleppo, and said, “We are entering into a street battle with trained fighters, without any heavy weapons.”
He continued: “Regarding the car bombs, yes, there are groups participating who developed this weapon and used them against the strongholds and positions of the sectarian militias in areas far away from civilians. This type of weapon can be deadly and achieve the aim without any collateral damage. More than one car bomb was used before the raid today.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
