Syria: Fighting Rages In Aleppo As Assad Sends Air Strikes and Army Reinforcements

The battle for Aleppo appears to continue to escalate today as government forces have sent an armoured column of to reinforce the military personnel already fighting for control of the city and following the air strikes on Free Syrian Army (FSA) strongholds yesterday.

The BBC’s Ian Pannell is reporting form within the city and recorded some video of the fighter jet that flew in to bombard the city which looked to be Russian made.

Fighter jets have bombed eastern #Aleppo city. A significant escalation and perhaps the first time they've been used in #Syrian conflict.

— Ian Pannell (@BBCiPannell) July 24, 2012

Other videos of the air attacks have also started to appear on YouTube

Government forces have seen major successes in Damascus in the last couple of days, with the regime quelling the uprising with an iron fist in the city, and soldiers still going door to door to flush out any remaining rebel fighters. This would have been a major boost of morale for the Syrian military which had suffered some quick and humiliating defeats the previous week as rebels took control of many areas of the city.

The few areas in Damascus where the FSA have maintained some foothold are now reported to be under heavy machine gun fire and air strikes

#BREAKING: Shelling with tanks and aircraft on the neighborhoods of Assali, Qadam, and Hajar Aswad in #Damascus has been going on for hour.

— نور (@NMSyria) July 25, 2012

Whilst the FSA may be out-gunned, they have seized a cache of weaponry at an military location within Aleppo and have managed to commandeer a tank from the Syrian army. Here is a video showing the extent of the most recent weapons haul in Aleppo

The city of Rastan, which has been a FSA stronghold for much of the uprising is also under heavy bombardment today from heavy machine gun and reported air strikes from MiG jets.

Rastan is under extreme shelling this morning from MIG jets, rocket launchers and artillery. Maybe it has a link to Manaf's speech? #Syria

— (@HamaEcho) July 25, 2012

These air strikes may be a demonstration of power and military strength from the Assad regime, but many hope the targeting of built up civilian areas in the city will force the international community to act to avoid thousands of further deaths in the conflict.

FSA in control of many parts of Aleppo tonight. lots of residents fled. regime bringing heavy reinforcements. a bloodbath soon #Syria

— Edward Dark (@edwardedark) July 24, 2012

However, the increased fighting has resulted on the UN sending home half of their 300 or so unarmed observers.

It does not appear that Russia is changing its stance of non-intervention and continued selling of weapons to the Assad regime with recent comments claiming the recent EU sanctions against Assad and other top officials and Syrian companies are a “blockade” against Syria.

#AFP: #Russia condemns new #EU #sanctions as 'blockade' against #Syria

— NOW Syria (@NOW_Syria) July 25, 2012

The sheer scale of the uprising in Syria can be seen from the volume of people that have been detained by the regime in the past 16 months of fighting, which is reported to be around 200,000.

Al-Jazeera: Defected Brigadier General #Aslan said that 200,000 people have been detained since the beginning of the #revolution in #Syria

— NOW Syria (@NOW_Syria) July 25, 2012

Syria’s neighbours are getting increasingly nervous about the conflict on their borders as the NY Times is reporting that Al-Qaeda is becoming involved in the uprising – something which the FSA had been keen to avoid. As a result the borders are becoming increasingly difficult to cross or closed all together.

Turkey will close all bordergates with Syria today-NTV.

— Bram Vermeulen (@bramvermeul) July 25, 2012

The continued fighting and targeting of civilian areas by government forces is causing a notable quickening in defectors both in the military and the administration.