ALEPPO, Syria
For almost two weeks, Syria’s Assad regime has waged a war of attrition against opposition-held districts of Aleppo in an attempt to cut the city off from the outside world.
The Assad regime, with Russian air support, has managed to cut the humanitarian corridor linking Turkey to Aleppo and surround opposition-held areas of the city from the north.
Now the regime is trying to cut the Castello-Handarat road, which currently represents the only way out of central Aleppo.
The road links the city to opposition-held areas stretching from Aleppo to Idlib and areas near the border with Turkey.
While a UN-backed ceasefire still remains in effect, the Assad regime has continued to attack central, northern and southern parts of the city.
According to Aleppo-based civil defense officials, at least 200 civilians in the area have been killed by regime and Russian airstrikes since April 21.
Last week, Russian airstrikes that targeted a field hospital in Aleppo’s al-Sokkari neighborhood killed the city’s only pediatrician and five other medical personnel, along with 30 other civilians.
Shortly afterward, regime warplanes targeted a mosque in al-Sokkari, although no casualties were reported.
Despite the deteriorating situation in Aleppo, an April 29 ceasefire deal agreed to by both Russia and Washington only covers the area between Syria’s northwestern Latakia province and the East Gouta district in the southwestern Rif Dimashq province.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said Washington’s top priority in Aleppo was the imposition of a ceasefire and has urged Russia to use its influence to this effect with the Assad regime.
Moscow, however, has yet to respond to the request.
Nusra Front
The Russian Defense Ministry’s insistence that some groups be excluded from the ceasefire, meanwhile, remains a cause for concern.
Kerry, for one, says the Assad regime is targeting civilians, contrary to regime claims that it is targeting the extremist Nusra Front in Aleppo.
Local sources who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fears for their safety said that areas recently targeted by Syrian and Russian warplanes were not under the control of the Nusra Front.
The Nusra Front has been active in the al-Eis district south of Aleppo city, where the group enjoys a degree of influence.
Because the UN Security Council has designated the Nusra Front a "terrorist organization", both the U.S. and Russia have excluded it from the terms of the ceasefire.
Target: Aleppo
For the last two weeks, according to local sources, the Assad regime -- with Russian support -- has been conducting airstrikes on opposition-held areas of Aleppo.
At the same time, regime forces -- alongside Iran-backed Shia militias -- have been shelling the village of Khalidiya in southern Aleppo as opposition forces and the Nusra Front fight the regime and its allies in al-Eis.
Opposition forces and the Nusra Front recently captured the strategic al-Eis district (which lies along the Damascus-Aleppo road) in retaliation for regime attacks in the Eastern Ghouta area in which dozens of civilians were killed.
Since then, regime forces have stepped up their efforts to recapture the strategic district.
Anadan city, located roughly 12 kilometers from Aleppo, has also recently become the scene of fierce clashes between pro-regime Shia militias and opposition forces.
PYD-regime alliance
The regime and the PYD (the terrorist PKK group’s Syrian affiliate), meanwhile, have worked together to cut the Castello-Handarat road -- the humanitarian corridor that links the northern part of Aleppo province to the Turkish border.
Three weeks ago, the PYD managed to rout opposition forces who had been fighting to keep the corridor open.
The PYD also continues to fight opposition forces in the Ashrafiya district of Aleppo’s strategically-important Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.
The regime, for its part, has provided air cover whenever the PYD faces setbacks.
The PYD is now trying to advance on the ground -- in coordination with regime airstrikes -- after withdrawing from the front lines.
Clashes
Turkmen Mountain (Jabal Turkmen) in the western Latakia province and the Eastern Ghouta district of the Rif Dimashq province, along with parts of the Hama and Homs provinces, have also seen fierce clashes between regime and opposition forces.
Regime forces have continued to try to surround the village of Deir al-Asafir south of Eastern Ghouta.
Meanwhile, as the regime continues to carry out airstrikes on the villages of al-Hamameyat and Buwaydah in Hama province, fierce ground combat continues to rage in the Turkmen Mountain region.
