ALEPPO, Syria, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Syrian combat aircraft and
artillery pounded Aleppo late into the night as the army battled
for control of the country’s biggest city, where rebel fighters
said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been forced
to retreat.

During the day on Tuesday large clouds of black smoke rose
into the sky after attack helicopters turned their machineguns
on eastern districts for the first time in the latest fighting
and a MiG warplane later strafed the same area.

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian rebels aim to push towards central Aleppo, capturing the country’s biggest city within days despite being outgunned by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, a local rebel commander said.

Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, who defected from the Syrian army six months ago, told Reuters government troops had tried for three days to capture the south-western Aleppo neighborhood of Salaheddine, and Assad’s soldiers were increasingly demoralized.

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – There are no colored lights, no crowds of shoppers thronging the markets for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in rebel-held Aleppo. Trash lines the roadsides, and a few worried faces make their way past quickly.

While some welcome it, other residents seem wary of the ragtag rebels who have seized of parts of this ancient city, which for months stood on the sidelines of the 16-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that has shaken most of the country.

ALEPPO, Syria, July 31 (Reuters) – The Syrian military has
stepped up its campaign to drive rebels out of Aleppo, where
fighters said they were holding firm, vowing to turn the
country’s largest city into the “grave of the regime”.

Opposition activists denied a government declaration that
its forces had recaptured the Salaheddine district, in southwest
Aleppo, straddling the most obvious route for Syrian troop
reinforcements coming from the south.

ALEPPO (Reuters) – The rebel banner of independence waves over the scorched streets and gutted cars that litter the urban battlegrounds of Aleppo, scars of a struggle in Syria’s second largest city that fighters believe they are destined to win within weeks.

The scruffy, rifle-wielding youths are undeterred by the fate of equally bold, but ultimately crushed campaigns by rebels in the capital Damascus or in Homs, the bloody epicenter of the 16-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

ALEPPO, Syria, July 30 (Reuters) – Artillery and mortar fire
reverberated across Aleppo early on Monday and a military
helicopter clattered towards a district that the Syrian army
said it had recaptured from rebels in battles for control of
Syria’s biggest city.

Hospitals and makeshift clinics in rebel-held areas in the
east of the city were filling up with casualties from a week of
fighting in Aleppo, an commercial hub that had previously stayed
out of a 16-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

ALEPPO, Syria, July 30 (Reuters) – Syrian troops said they
had recaptured a district of Syria’s largest city Aleppo, after
heavy fighting against rebels who remain in control of swathes
of the commercial hub despite being pushed out of the capital
Damascus.

The past two weeks have seen forces of President Bashar
al-Assad struggle as never before to maintain their grip on the
country after a major rebel advance into the two main cities and
a July 18 explosion that killed four top security officials.

ALEPPO, Syria, July 29 (Reuters) – The route to Aleppo from
the Turkish border is a long web of dirt back roads with miles
of exposed ground. But undaunted and in total darkness, dozens
of young men jump onto white trucks with their AK-47 rifles,
keen to join the fight there.

Syria’s 16-month revolt has finally erupted in the country’s
commercial hub, but the momentum was not generated inside the
city – it was brought into the historic city’s ancient stone
alleyways from the scorched fields of the surrounding
countryside.

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – Helicopter gunships opened fire over Aleppo on Sunday and the thud of artillery boomed across neighborhoods as government forces and rebels fought for control of Syria’s second city.

Opposition activists reported clashes in several rebel-held districts in the morning in what could herald the start of a decisive phase in the battle for Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub.

TAL RIFAAT, Syria, July 29 (Reuters) – International
mediator Kofi Annan said he feared an “imminent battle” for
Syria’s biggest city Aleppo.

Syrian opposition sources said helicopters from President
Bashar al-Assad’s military pounded a rebel-held part of the city
on Saturday and armoured units were positioned for an onslaught
that could determine its fate.