Syria foes bolster forces for long Aleppo battle

Syrian troops and rebels poured into commercial capital Aleppo Tuesday as both sides battened down for the long haul after 40 police were killed on day four of a pivotal battle in the nearly 17-month conflict. A Damascus security source said the offensive which the army launched on Saturday to recapture rebel-held areas of the city of some 2.7 million people now looked likely to drag on for "several weeks".
Buoyed by the rebels' success in resisting the massive assault by troops backed by tanks, artillery and helicopter gunships, a leading dissident announced in Cairo that he had been tasked with forming a government in exile. "The army and the terrorist groups have both sent reinforcements for a decisive battle that should last several weeks," the Damascus security source told AFP. The rebels sent in backup from neighbouring Turkey, after they seized a strategic checkpoint just outside Aleppo, giving them a vital resupply route between their rear-bases over the border and the strategic prize of the country's main northern city.