Fighter jets bombed eastern areas of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a BBC journalist near the city reported today.
Insurgents from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed to have come under direct assault from two Russian-made MiGs in the southern part of the conurbation of at least 2 million people.
The Assad regime sent thousands of troops to Aleppo today following air attacks to put down a revolt.
Reuters reported:
Syria sent thousands of troops surging towards Aleppo in the early hours of Wednesday, where its forces have been pounding rebel fighters from the air, engulfing the country’s largest city in total warfare to put down a revolt.
Recent days have seen Syria’s 16-month-old uprising transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the slightly smaller capital Damascus, where fighting exploded last week.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighborhoods in the capital and are turning towards Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north.
Opposition activists said thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armored vehicles from the strategic Jabal al-Zawiya highlands in Idlib province near the Turkish border and were headed towards Aleppo.
Rebels attacked the rear of the troops withdrawing from the region at the villages of Orom al-Joz and rami near the main Aleppo-Latakia road and at the village of al-Bara west of the Aleppo-Damascus highway, actives Abdelrahman Bakran said from the area.
In Aleppo, helicopters swirled overhead firing missiles throughout Tuesday, residents said.
Last monthe a Syrian fighter pilot who landed his MiG jet at a military base near Amman was granted asylum.
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