ALEPPO, Syria
At least 25 Syrian troops were killed Monday by a suicide car-bomb attack carried out by the Nusra Front in western Aleppo’s Jamiat al-Zahraa district, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Tuesday.
According to Ansar al-Sharia, an umbrella of armed groups united against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, opposition fighters stormed the district immediately following the suicide attack.
Speaking via Twitter, Ansar al-Sharia claimed to have seized control of “a number of buildings” in the district following the deadly car bombing.
On the same day, the “Fatah Halap factions” – another anti-regime opposition umbrella group, based in Aleppo – attacked a government military academy near the city’s western Al-Hemdaniya district, according to an opposition source.
The assault, in which the attackers reportedly used Grad missile launchers, left a number of casualties among Syrian troops, the source said.
Also on Monday, a U.S.-led international coalition carried out a number of airstrikes against positions held by the Daesh militant group on Aleppo’s northern outskirts.
Omar al-Shamali, an Aleppo-based activist, said the strikes had killed 15 Daesh fighters, including a senior commander.
A number of different rebel groups recently launched an offensive aimed at capturing government-controlled districts of Aleppo.
