Syria's army battled to take more ground from rebels in Aleppo Thursday after President Bashar al-Assad said victory for his troops in the city would be a turning point in the war. Three weeks into a major offensive to retake all of Aleppo, government troops have captured about 85 percent of territory rebels controlled in the city's east and were continuing to push forward.
AFP's correspondents in the city said rebel areas were facing intense bombardment. In east Aleppo, terrified residents could be seen fleeing in the streets as heavy bombing shook opposition-held areas. In the city's west, the explosions coming from bombing of rebel districts were so strong they shook the windows of buildings. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the east.
Cornered in a shrinking enclave in Aleppo's southeast, the rebels have asked for a five-day ceasefire. Western countries have backed the call but talks between the United States and Russia - including fresh meetings between top diplomats on Thursday - have failed to achieve a breakthrough.
In a wide-ranging interview with Syrian daily Al-Watan published Thursday, Assad predicted victory for his forces in Aleppo, though he admitted that would not end the country's conflict entirely. "It's true that Aleppo will be a win for us," Assad said. "Let's be realistic - it won't mean the end of the war in Syria," Assad said. "But it will be a huge step towards this end."
A regime victory "will mean the transformation of the course of the war across Syria," Assad said. Rebel forces seized control of large parts of Aleppo in 2012, dividing Syria's former commercial hub into an opposition-held east and government-controlled west. For years Aleppo was a key battleground in the war and important rebel stronghold, but Assad's forces have recently made a concerted push to retake the city.
In the last week government forces steadily gained ground until on Wednesday - after a highly symbolic retreat from the Old City - the rebels called for the ceasefire to allow thousands of civilians to evacuate. Assad's government has said a truce is only possible after a full rebel withdrawal, and opposition fighters have rejected any talk of abandoning Aleppo. On Thursday the army, backed by foreign fighters from Iran and Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah movement, was continuing to advance, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitoring group said there were heavy clashes in several rebel neighbourhoods, including Bustan al-Qasr, Saif al-Dawla, Zibdiya, Sukkari and Kallaseh. All rebel areas were under heavy bombardment, it said, and opposition forces were returning fire with rockets into west Aleppo.