Syrian rebels launch attacks on key Aleppo army barracks

BEIRUT - Syrian rebel fighters pushed back against Syrian army forces Thursday, in attempts to reverse a string of recent defeats in the north of the country.

The rebels launched a large military offensive on one of the largest military barracks in the country, in northern Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Rebels, including fighters from Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Front, launched an assault today on the barracks in Hanano in Aleppo," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that the fighting was ongoing.

State media, meanwhile, reported that the army had "foiled an attempt by terrorist groups to infiltrate the barracks" and killed a number of them.

The barracks is strategically important and sits on a hill overlooking the northern part of Aleppo. The city has been the site of bloody battles between government forces and opposition fighters, with government planes subjecting the ancient city to a barrage of strikes from the air in recent months.  

Once Syria's economic hub, Aleppo has been divided between regime control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after combat began there in mid-2012.

Abdel Rahman said the attack began when "rebels detonated explosives in tunnels they had dug beneath army positions around the barracks". The details appeared to be collaborated by Syrian state television.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have recently been able to go on the offensive and have made advances into many rebel-held areas. According to activists interviewed by MEE these recent victories have buoyed Assad’s forces and have promoted them to stop negotiating for the peaceful surrender of fighters still besieged in Homs. The remaining rebels now fear a full military escalation may be on the cards, the activists said.

The spate of military successes have also allowed Assad to push ahead with planned presidential elections. The latest pronouncements from the presidential camp suggest that registration for presidential elections will begin next week, at which point the exact timing of the election day will be announced.

“On Monday 21 April, the Council of People [parliament] will meet to open registration for president candidates and set a date for the election,” a government source told AFP on Thursday.

The vote is considered to be highly controversial, with most opposition fighters prevented from standing or vowing to boycott the elections.