Thousands of Syrians flee Aleppo in two days as Syrian regime forces continue the bombing

On Sunday, the fighting continued in Aleppo, and the Free Syrian Army fighters were able to counter the first attacks of the Syrian army on Saturday against the district of Salaheddin, a rebel stronghold and main target of the assault, according to AFP.

"Violent clashes took place Sunday morning, especially in the neighborhoods of Bab al-Jadid, Zahraa, Arkouba and Saif al-Dawla," said the Observatory in a statement.

The Free Syrian Army announced blasting at least seven tanks and killing dozens of regime soldiers in today’s clashes.

An activist from Aleppo told the Associated Press there was renewed shelling of the Salaheddin district in southwest Aleppo where rebels repulsed a ground assault on Saturday.

He said there were also clashes between troops and rebels in the Bab al-Nasr, Bab al-Hadid and old city neighborhoods of the city center.

The central districts' "narrow streets and alleys, with covered markets and densely populated buildings, are impossible to penetrate with tanks or shelling from afar," he said.

Elsewhere in the country, violence continued as clashes took place in Homs near the police headquarters, killing at least one rebel. In the region of Damascus, one civilian was killed by a sniper in the town of Irbin. Clashes were reported also in Idleb (northwest), where two civilians were killed.

The SANA news agency reported that Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, who arrived Tehran on Sunday, said: "We believe that all the anti-Syrian forces have gathered in Aleppo to fight the government, and they will definitely be defeated."

On Saturday, violence left 168 people dead, including 94 civilians, 33 rebels and 41regime soldiers, according to SOHR.

Meanwhile, the United Nations reported on Sunday that 200,000 people have fled the Syrian city of Aleppo in two days, while another report said that 300,000 of Aleppo’s residents have fled their embattled neighborhoods for safer areas in and out of Syria.

In related news, Jordan on Sunday officially opened its first camp to house Syrian refugees who have fled their country.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judah says his country is now sheltering more than 142,000 Syrians, with about 36,000 registered with the U.N. as refugees.

"Most Syrians fleeing violence in their country are welcomed in Jordan by relatives living in the northern part of the country," Judah said.

Furthermore, the president of the Syrian National Council, Abdel Basset Sayda, asked on Sunday friendly countries to arm the members of the Free Syrian Army.

"We want weapons that allow us to stop tanks and combat aircraft of the regime's army, he said in Abu Dhabi, warning that the regime has planned massacres in Aleppo.

He also noted that Assad is a criminal who should be tried for massacres and should not be granted a refuge.

As I previously mentioned, Aleppo is not like Damascus, therefore its expected that the fighting in Aleppo will take several days or even several weeks. The Syrian regime depends on dirty tactics by using training aeroplanes to bomb civilians in Aleppo to avoid a U.N. decision designating Syria "no flying zone." Bear in mind that the opposition asked for this decision many times, but their request was rejected. The information concerning the training airplanes was provided to me by some military colleagues living therein.

We expect a lot of massacres in the near future, its a war of challenge or in other words a war to end Assad's regime.

Sources: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/29/229169.html

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