International News

BEIRUT, (APP/AFP) – Militants and rebels
captured strategic military positions on the edges of Syria’s
second city Aleppo on Saturday, turning the tables on
Russian-backed regime forces besieging the city.
To the northeast, a Western-backed alliance of Arab
and Kurdish fighters scored a major victory against the
Islamic State group in the town of Manbij after a fierce
two-month battle.
The developments have rocked the key northern province
of Aleppo, a microcosm of Syria’s topsy-turvy, multi-front war
that has killed more than 280,000 people.
Rebel and regime forces have fought for control of the
provincial capital of the same name since mid-2012, transforming
the former economic powerhouse into a divided, bombed-out city.
On Saturday, opposition fighters and allied miltants
captured fresh territory south of Aleppo in a bid to cut off
regime forces and open up a new route into besieged rebel-held
districts.
“The Army of Conquest on Saturday took control of the
armament school, where there is a large amount of ammunitions,
and a large part of the artillery school” at a military academy
south of the city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The coalition of rebels, and militants “is about to cut
off, by gunfire, the supply route into government-controlled
districts” of the city, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman
said.
That road passes through a southwestern suburb of
Aleppo called Ramussa and is the last route into the city
used by regime troops.
Opposition forces in the city — encircled by the
government since July 17 — are hoping to expand their control
in the area and use that route themselves.