Rebels reverse regime gains in eastern Aleppo

Syrian opposition fighters yesterday reversed recent gains by regime forces in a strategic area in the divided city of Aleppo, a monitoring group reported.The rebels wrested back half of Sheikh Said district in the southern part of eastern Aleppo following a counter-attack against regime troops and their allies, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The watchdog reported fighting between both sides with each trying to take complete control of the district. No casualty figures were given.“Sheikh Said is crucial for the [opposition] factions because, if they lose it, the regime would tighten the noose on areas deep inside eastern Aleppo,” Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman said. On Wednesday, the Syrian government said its forces had taken full control of the Sheikh Said neighbourhood.Forces fighting for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have advanced into the rebel-held eastern enclave of Aleppo in recent days.Damascus has repeatedly vowed to take full control of Aleppo by dislodging the opposition forces from their bastion in the eastern section of the city.Regime artillery yesterday shelled the rebel-held districts of al-Shaar and al-Maadi in eastern Aleppo, according to the Observatory.Four children from the same family were killed in the shelling, the Britain-based watchdog said.Rebels retaliated by firing shells on the neighbourhood of al-Malab al-Baldi in the government-held western part of Aleppo, the Observatory said without reporting potential casualties.Local activists say the besieged opposition enclave is being pounded by regime jets and shelling, with wide areas devastated and abandoned by residents seeking shelter further away from advancing government forces.The United Nations said on Thursday it had started talks with Russia, a key military ally of al-Assad, on setting up four corridors for aid shipments and medical evacuations in eastern Aleppo.Senior UN envoy Jan Egeland said Russia had announced its willingness to reopen such safe passages. Egeland added that medical aid and shelters for winter are urgently needed. Some 26,500 have fled rebel-held eastern Aleppo during the current government offensive, and the number of displaced people in Aleppo now stands at 400,000, according to Egeland.Meanwhile, rebels in Aleppo have agreed to form a new military alliance to better organise the defence of parts of the city they control from a ferocious assault by the government and its allies, officials in two of the insurgent groups said yesterday.The two officials, speaking from Turkey, said the new alliance would be called the “Aleppo Army” and led by the commander of the Jabha Shamiya rebel faction, one of the major groups fighting in northern Syria under the Free Syrian Army banner.An official with a second rebel group confirmed that the Jabha Shamiya’s Abu Abdelrahman Nour had been selected as the leader.In an interview with Reuters last week, Nour urged greater support from foreign states that back the opposition.A Jabha Shamiya official said the new alliance would help centralise decision-making.The Jabha Shamiya group, known in English as the Levant Front, has received support from Turkey and other states that want Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad removed from power.Meanwhile, thick cloud cover and rain deterred air strikes on rebel-held districts of east Aleppo yesterday, though artillery bombardment and heavy fighting continued on the ground, a monitor and civil defence workers said.Rebel groups are trying to prevent further gains by government forces.In the last few days, before the bad weather, Syrian government jets had struck several east Aleppo districts, the Observatory, rebels and residents reported.“Praise God, there are no warplanes,” Ibrahim Abu al-Laith, a civil defence official in opposition-held Aleppo, said yesterday, speaking to Reuters.The civil defence is a rescue service that operates in rebel-held areas of Syria.A few people were burning their belongings or furniture to warm themselves, he added.“The situation of the displaced is very bad,” he added. “There are no shelters for them, no fuel, no firewood.Many people are sleeping in the streets.”Thousands of people have fled deeper into the rebel-held sector in recent days, as the government and its allies press on with a ferocious offensive aimed at taking the whole city.“Many of the families that were displaced within besieged Aleppo are living in houses that don’t even have doors,” said Bebars Mishal, a civil defence rescue worker in the area.