Syria rebels lose all northeast Aleppo

Syria’s rebels lost all the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in east Aleppo yesterday, as the army made significant advances in its offensive to recapture the entire cit, reports AFP from Aleppo, Syria. The regime’s gains have prompted an exodus of desperate civilians, most fleeing to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under opposition control.
The rebel losses suggested it would only be a matter of time before all of east Aleppo—held by the opposition since 2012 -- is back in government hands.
The loss of the city’s east would be a potentially devastating blow for Syria’s rebels, who have seen their territory fall steadily under government control since Russia began an intervention to bolster President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015. On Monday, government forces seized the Sakhur, Haydariya and Sheikh Khodr districts, while Kurdish fighters took the Sheikh Fares neighbourhood from rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. “This is their (the rebels’) worst defeat since they seized half the city in 2012,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The advances left all of northeast Aleppo under government control. On Sunday night, the Observatory said nearly 10,000 civilians had fled the east, with around 6,000 moving to the Kurdish-held Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood and 4,000 to government-held west Aleppo.
State television showed footage of families disembarking from the green coaches regularly used to transport civilians and surrendering rebels from territory retaken by the government. Kurdish officials published a video they said showed civilians crossing a field and arriving in Sheikh Maqsud, where local forces helped people lift baggage over a makeshift berm as they arrived.

 

Syria rebels lose all northeast Aleppo

Syrias rebels lost all the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in east Aleppo yesterday, as the army made significant advances in its offensive to recapture the entire cit, reports AFP from Aleppo, Syria. The regimes gains have prompted an exodus of desperate civilians, most fleeing to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under opposition control. The rebel losses suggested it would only be a matter of time before all of east Aleppoheld by the opposition since 2012 -- is back in government hands. The loss of the citys east would be a potentially devastating blow for Syrias rebels, who have seen their territory fall steadily under government control since Russia began an intervention to bolster President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015. On Monday, government forces seized the Sakhur, Haydariya and Sheikh Khodr districts, while Kurdish fighters took the Sheikh Fares neighbourhood from rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. This is their (the rebels) worst defeat since they seized half the city in 2012, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The advances left all of northeast Aleppo under government control. On Sunday night, the Observatory said nearly 10,000 civilians had fled the east, with around 6,000 moving to the Kurdish-held Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood and 4,000 to government-held west Aleppo. State television showed footage of families disembarking from the green coaches regularly used to transport civilians and surrendering rebels from territory retaken by the government. Kurdish officials published a video they said showed civilians crossing a field and arriving in Sheikh Maqsud, where local forces helped people lift baggage over a makeshift berm as they arrived.