Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — President Bashar Assad has amassed tens of thousands of troops to drive Sunni rebels out of the largest city in Syria.

Opposition and regime sources said the Syrian Army has brought up to 40,000 troops in preparation for a massive assault on Aleppo.

They said the army intensified operations over the last two weeks while the air force
conducted daily air strikes on suspected rebel strongholds in the northern city.

“Syrian Army units killed large numbers of terrorists while targeting their dens and gatherings in Aleppo and its countryside,” the official Syrian news agency SANA said on May 10.

SANA quoted a military source as saying that army units foiled an attempt by rebel militias to enter regime-held neighborhoods of Aleppo. The source also said the army destroyed rebel weapons in several areas in and around the city.

The military has been attacking rebels from the ground and air. The sources reported heavy fighting between the Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant and the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah in the Aleppo neighborhoods of Beij and Majbal.

“This was an attempt by the [regime] side to take over many parts of
Beij,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The opposition group said Syrian Air Force helicopters were dropping
barrel bombs around the central prison of Aleppo, held by rebels. Syrian
Observatory also said Nusra destroyed a pump that distributed water
throughout Aleppo.

“This is a crime,” the British-based opposition group said.

Rebel casualties were said to have approached 1,000 in the battle for
Aleppo. The sources said the regime lost at least 100 soldiers as the army
sought to block rebel reinforcements to Aleppo.

Opposition sources said Assad was believed to have ordered the capture
of Aleppo before elections in June 2014. They said the army and air force
appeared to be targeting leading rebel units in preparation for a massive
invasion.

Rebels were said to be using tunnels to attack Syrian Army units. They
cited the bombing of a hotel in downtown Aleppo, taken over by
the army. At least 30 people were said to have been killed in the attack on
May 8.

“This paves the way to tighten control over the Old City,” opposition
commander Munther Salal said.

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