The Syrian Army on Sunday ordered rebels in Aleppo to leave the city or face “inevitable death”, as a series of air strikes on an opposition-held town elsewhere in the country killed 21 people, including three children.
Pro-government forces have been pushing deeper into besieged eastern Aleppo, taking back neighbourhoods the rebels have held since 2012.
Defeat for opposition
The opposition has buckled after months of siege and waves of devastating air strikes, and could soon be driven from Syria’s largest city. It would mark their biggest defeat since the conflict began in 2011.
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Samir Suleiman told The Associated Press in Aleppo that government forces would “continue fighting until they restore stability and security to all neighbourhoods”. He said the Army has already retaken more than half the neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo, and that special forces would lead the battle in the narrow streets of the city’s historic district.
Elsewhere in Syria, activists reported a series of air strikes in the opposition-held town of Kafranbel, some 80 km from Aleppo.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed 21 dead, including members of the local religious police force. It said the air strikes hit the town’s main market. — AP
