http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11 ... ce-seized/
AJ also reports it, and credits the help of Iranian and Russian forces which allowed Assad to improve his fortunes. If you told me 2 years ago Putin would be doing Russian intervention in various countries like Syria and throwing Russian weight around, not seen since the Cold War, I would have thought you crazy. Shows how much I know.Syrian rebels lose all of northeast Aleppo 'in worst defeat since they seized half the city in 2012'
Agence France-Presse
28 NOVEMBER 2016 • 6:36PM
The four-year battle for Aleppo appeared to take a decisive turn in favour of the Syrian regime last night as Bashar al-Assad’s forces drove back rebel fighters and captured more than a third of the territory held by the opposition since 2012.
Analysts said rebel forces were facing the “beginning of end” after they were pushed out of all the northern neighbourhoods in their east Aleppo stronghold and may be just weeks away from total defeat in Syria’s largest city.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed since the regime offensive began two weeks ago and more than 10,000 people have fled their homes in the last two days as Syrian army troops and their allies rapidly advanced into opposition areas.
“This is [the rebels’] worst defeat since they seized half the city in 2012,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Rebel fighters have been defending a kidney-shaped enclave in east Aleppo since July when regime forces surrounded them and cut off their supply routes to opposition areas in the countryside.
While the frontlines around east Aleppo have ebbed and flowed, rebel forces have been mostly able to hold out despite punishing airstrikes from Russian and regime jets and intense ground attacks launched by Syrian troops along with Hizbollah fighters and Shia militias.
But rebel lines in the northern part of east Aleppo collapsed on Monday and over a few chaotic hours they were driven out of four of the key neighbourhoods they had spent months fighting to defend.
“This is a turning point,” said Michael Horowitz, director of intelligence for the Prime Source consulting group. “What we’re seeing could be the beginning of the end for the opposition not just in Aleppo but across Syria.”
Victory in Aleppo would give Mr Assad control over Syria’s largest cities as well as its strategic coastline, significantly strengthening his position with the country and on the international stage.
A rebel defeat in Aleppo could also cause the opposition’s main backers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia to reconsider whether it was worth sending more arms and money to rebel groups that continue to lose on the battlefield.
There are around 275,000 civilians living in east Aleppo. Around 4,000 fled into regime-held west Aleppo on Monday and another 6,000 escaped to a Kurdish held area in the north of the city, according to the SOHR.
Hundreds more reportedly retreated into the remaining opposition neighbourhoods where they sought shelter from the winter cold in bombed-out buildings or on the streets. There are no functioning hospitals left in the area and the UN has warned that civilians are days away from starvation.
"The situation is disastrous," said Ibrahim Abu Al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue group. "There is mass displacement and morale is in the gutter. People are sleeping in the streets. They don't have anything to eat or drink, but neither do we.”
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, called for an immediate ceasefire so humanitarian aid could be delivered to civilians but both Russia and the Syrian regime have ignored similar calls from the UN for weeks.
Modar Shekho, a nurse and opposition activist, said people in east Aleppo were worried about bloody reprisals by the Syrian regime against civilians once it re-established control in the city.
“God forbid, I hope the regime does not massacre us when it takes control of these neighbourhoods,” the 28-year-old told The Telegraph. Mr Shekho’s brother was killed on Monday when the family’s house was bombed in the al-Mashad neighbourhood. He had already lost a sister to an airstrike in 2012.
Rebel groups have continued shelling western Aleppo and their fire killed three civilians and wounded 29 people on Monday, according to the SOHR
