Syrian regime forces redeployed Sunday to try to avoid being surrounded in neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo, after a rebel alliance said it had broken a three-week government siege. A coalition of rebels and jihadists surged through regime territory on Saturday to open a new route into the northern city's besieged eastern neighbourhoods, home to an estimated 250,000 people.
The operation triggered celebrations in eastern districts and sparked fears in regime-controlled western areas of the divided city of food and fuel shortages. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the rebel action was one of the most significant setbacks for government forces since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
"Despite more than 600 Russian strikes, the regime forces were not able to hold on to their positions," he said.
Steadfast regime ally Moscow has provided air support for forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since September 20.
Official media denied that the siege had been broken but implicitly admitted that regime forces were on the defensive and that pro-government areas were facing shortages in the country's ravaged second city.
State television said on Sunday: "Our forces have redeployed after absorbing the attack of thousands of mercenaries, and the army has found a new route to allow food and gas in." "The army has found an alternative way to move food and fuel supplies" into western Aleppo, it said.
The Observatory reported intermittent air strikes and clashes Sunday on the city's southern edges, where rebels overran buildings in a military academy the previous day.
Rebel units on Saturday pushed north-east into the Ramussa district where they linked up with other insurgents who had fought from inside the city. Footage posted by rebels showed their fighters embracing and celebrating the end of the government siege, in place since July 17.
On Sunday, rebel forces brought seven pick-up trucks full of fruit and vegetables into eastern districts of Aleppo to be distributed to local markets, an opposition fighter said.