Dozens of Assad troops killed in ‘special operation’

A Syrian army tank is seen in the al-Maamel area in Aleppo's countryside. (File photo: Reuters)

 

 

Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 30 March 2014

Dozens of troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were killed in two attacks carried out by rebels in Aleppo, opposition sources reported on Sunday.

Ziad Hajj Obeid, a commander for the rebel Free Syrian Army, said their forces carried two “special operations’ in the city, and have “managed to progress ahead of Assad troops in Aleppo’s area of Sheikh Najjar.”

Obeid added that the rebels in Aleppo’s al-Azizieh neighborhood launched a counterattack on regime forces costing the latter great losses.

The fighters claim they had also targeted a candy factory in al-Azizieh used as a base by Assad forces, killing 20 of them.

The operation comes as part of the rebels' attempt to completely control the strategic town used to provide aid to regime forces in Aleppo.

Almost two years after rebels grabbed half of Syria's biggest city, they are on the defensive, with government forces advancing on three sides.

If Assad’s forces manage to retake Aleppo, the Syrian president would regain control of Syria's three largest cities, a bulwark for the Mediterranean provinces of Latakia and Tartous which form the heartland of his minority Alawite sect