Syrian govt jets fire on rebels in Aleppo

1 Aug 2012, 10:14 pm   -   Source: AAP

Assad has pushed his armed forces to redouble their efforts in a speech, which was not televised but appeared in an army magazine

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Syrian President Bashar Assad has urged his armed forces to step up the fight as the UN reported the military was using fighter jets to fire on rebels in Aleppo.

Sausan Ghosheh, a representative of the UN mission in Syria, said on Wednesday that international observers had witnessed jets firing on Aleppo, Syria's largest city, where intense fighting has been raging for 12 days.

She said the situation in Aleppo was dire, with "heavy use of heavy weapons" including tanks, which the rebels now possess as well.

"Yesterday, for the first time, our observers saw firing from a fighter aircraft. We also now have confirmation that the opposition is in a position of having heavy weapons, including tanks," she said. "There is a shortage of food, fuel and water."

Aleppo has been wracked by violence since rebels attempted to take it over and succeeded in holding several neighbourhoods despite daily assaults by regime tanks, helicopters and warplanes.

Assad pushed his armed forces to redouble their efforts in the fight in his speech, which was not televised but only appeared in the army's magazine.

"Today you are invited to increase your readiness and willingness for the armed forces to be the shield, wall and fortress of our nation," he said.

The regime has characterised the rebellion as the work of foreign terrorists, and Assad claimed "internal agents" are collaborating with them.

"Our battle is against a multi-faceted enemy with clear goals. This battle will determine the destiny of our people and the nation's past, present and future," he said.

Assad has not spoken in public since a bomb on July 18 killed four of his top security officials during a rebel assault on Damascus.

Syria's powerful military, which has largely held together over the course of the uprising, is vital to keeping Assad in power. The pace of defections has been rising recently, however. Neighbouring Turkey reports that 28 generals have already crossed the border.

In recent weeks, the military has unleashed heavy weapons against the increasingly bold rebels who have brought the fight to the country's two largest cities. The military managed to drive the rebels out of the capital Damascus a week after their assault with fierce bombardments of neighbourhoods followed by house-to-house searches.

Minor clashes with the rebels around Damascus continue, however, and in the early hours of Wednesday morning residents of the Christian neighbourhood of Bab Touma in Damascus' old city reported a half-hour gun battle.

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