Syria rebels ready for ‘mother of all battles’

SYRIA: Rebel forces were bracing Friday for a decisive “mother of all” battles in Aleppo, as Washington warned the Syrian army could be preparing to carry out a massacre in the country's second city.

The Syrian army has been sending waves of reinforcements towards the northern city, and a security source told AFP the offensive feared by the rebels could come as early as Friday.

“The special forces were deployed on Wednesday and Thursday on the edges of the city, and more troops have arrived to take part in a generalised counter-offensive on Friday or Saturday,” the security source said of Aleppo. Fighting raged in Aleppo on Thursday as clashes also shook parts of Damascus and other areas, with at least 121 people reported killed -- 64 civilians, 32 regime troops and 25 rebels.

Rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime also brought in reinforcements, with the source estimating that between 1,500 and 2,000 opposition fighters had arrived from outside Syria's most populous city to reinforce some 2,000 already fighting inside Aleppo. “They are mainly present in the southern and eastern suburbs of the city, mainly Salaheddin and nearby districts,” he said. The airport was cut off from the city, as four of the five roads leading to it were under rebel control, he added.

Rebels also said a regime assault appeared imminent.

“The army's reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo,” Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), told AFP via Skype.

“We expect a major offensive at any time, specifically on areas across the southern belt, from east to west.” Okaidi added that some 100 tanks and a large number of military vehicles had arrived in the country's commercial hub. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that regime forces pounded the Salaheddin neighbourhood in the south and Jazamati in the east.

On July 20 the rebels launched an all-out assault to overrun Aleppo, a move analysts say is aimed at establishing a bastion close to the rebel military headquarters in neighbouring Turkey.

The newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the regime, led on Thursday with the headline “Aleppo, the mother of all battles,” adding that “the army continues to chase terrorists in the outskirts of Damascus and the province”. Citing an Arab diplomatic source, it added: “Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and after that Syria will emerge from the crisis.” Washington warned that the Syrian regime may be preparing to carry out a massacre in the city. AFP