 "Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front")
Syrian rebels launched an offensive aimed at breaking the government's siege of eastern Aleppo today, where the UN estimates some 300,000 people are trapped with dwindling food and medical supplies.
As the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham faction announced the rebels' campaign, residents in the northern city's besieged opposition quarters burned tires to reduce visibility for fighter jets flying overhead, according to local activist Wissam Zarqa.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a network of local informants, said rebels and pro-government forces were clashing along several fronts on the outskirts of the divided city. Aleppo was Syria's largest city and its commercial capital before the war.
Presumed Russian or government jets bombed neighbourhoods in the eastern side, the Observatory reported. Earlier in the day, helicopters dropped unguided barrel bombs on the opposition-controlled neighbourhood of Bustan al-Basha, it said.
Government forces closed off the last route to the opposition holdout in early July, replicating siege tactics that it has employed with mixed results throughout the war.
Opposition neighbourhoods in Homs, the country's third largest city, surrendered to the government control in 2014 after a two-year siege left residents at the brink of starvation. Other sieges have lasted until today, with devastating humanitarian consequences.
The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura warned on Friday that basic supplies in eastern Aleppo could run out in three weeks.
The Syrian and Russian militaries announced safe corridors for residents who wanted to leave the besieged area Thursday, but according to the Russian government, only 169 civilians had left by yesterday.
Several rights groups have warned that it is illegal to deprive civilians of basic necessities, and that residents should not have to choose between leaving their homes or starving.
In southern Syria, an airstrike on a hospital in an opposition-controlled town put the facility out of service today.
The hospital in Jasem was targeted in one of several airstrikes to hit the town in Deraa province, located some 35 miles (57 kilo meters) south of Damascus, according to the Local Coordination Committees activist network. The group said six people were killed in the strikes, blaming them on the government.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the hospital strike killed a pharmacist and put the facility out of service.
