Syrian opposition breaks Aleppo regime siege

By Mohamed Misto and Halit Suleyman

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) - The Syrian opposition said Saturday that anti-regime fighters has broken a government siege on opposition-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo.

Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) fighters seized control of regime positions in Ramousa area in southern Aleppo, opening the route to opposition-held neighborhoods in the city, opposition sources told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

According to the sources, groups of opposition fighters have arrived into besieged neighborhoods in Aleppo.

“Clashes are still raging on in Ramousa outskirts between regime forces and opposition groups, which are trying to widen their control,” the sources said.

On Friday, opposition fighters in Aleppo captured a regime school regarded as one of the most significant strongholds of the Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the contested city.

According to opposition sources, some 150 regime forces were killed in the opposition offensive to break the siege, including fighters from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group.

In February, the Syrian regime cut the supply route between Aleppo’s northern countryside and opposition-held eastern neighborhood.

In early July, regime forces moved to cut the Castello Road, which links the contested city of Aleppo with opposition-held Idlib, imposing a total blockade on opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research puts the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.