Syria conflict: Key Aleppo district sees fierce clashes

 

 The Aleppo suburb of Tal Rifaat came under bombardment

Fierce fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels is taking place in a strategic district of the biggest city, Aleppo.

State media said government forces had taken control of Salah al-Din, but the Free Syrian Army later announced a successful counter-attack.
Images that have emerged from the northern city show buildings reduced to rubble by heavy weapons.
Observers say controlling Aleppo is a crucial goal for both sides.
In another development, Jordanian officials confirmed that former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab crossed into Jordan only on Wednesday - two days after his defection was announced.
Activists said he and his family had been hiding in the south of the country and that reports on Monday that he had already left Syria were aimed at throwing government forces off the trail.
Vital route

The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says that Aleppo's south-western district of Salah al-Din is a densely-packed area of narrow streets and has been one of the city's main battlefields.

If this is indeed the start of the government's long-awaited offensive to clear rebels from the city, it is clearly going to take some time, he says.
Salah al-Din is considered a vital supply route for government troops coming from the south.
Earlier on Wednesday, state media said government forces had taken full control of Salah al-Din, killing most of the rebels there.
They also reported heavy rebel losses near the historic citadel and in another district.
But a commander from the rebel Free Syrian Army later said it had launched a counter-attack following the arrival of some 700 reinforcements.
"For an hour and a half the Free Syrian Army has staged a counter-attack and reclaimed three streets out of five seized by regime forces," Wassel Ayub told AFP news agency by phone.
Another FSA commander, Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, told AFP news agency via Skype: "It is not true t

Analysis

Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut

After several weeks of bombardment and skirmishing, it seems the real battle for Aleppo may now be under way. Syrian state television ran urgent news flashes saying government forces were "completely combing" the Salah al-Din quarter on the south-west side of the city.
It said many rebels had been killed, including a number of non-Syrian fighters, and that booby-trap bombs left behind by the armed rebels had been defused. Local commanders of the rebel Free Syrian Army confirmed that a big attack was taking place but denied that the opposition forces had been completely dislodged.
Salah al-Din has been one of the main battlegrounds in the struggle for Syria's biggest city, and much of the quarter has been very heavily damaged by bombardment.
he regime army has seized control of the district. It is true that there is a barbaric and savage attack."