Syria retakes half of militant-held areas in Aleppo: Russia

Syrian troopers stand on top of a building overlooking the northern city of Aleppo in the city’s Bustan al-Basha neighborhood, November 28, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Russia says the Syrian army has recently reestablished control over half of the areas that had been under the control of militants in the east of the city of Aleppo.

The government holds and defends the city’s western side and has been purging its east of militants. Over the weakened, the army managed to retake a third of the city’s eastern side, and on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Syrian army had extended the gains to half of those areas.

“During the last 24 hours, thanks to very well-prepared and careful actions, Syrian soldiers were able to radically change the situation,” said Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, according to the Interfax news agency.

“Practically, half of the territory occupied by rebels in recent years in the eastern part of Aleppo has been completely liberated,” he said.

A Syrian trooper stands on top of a building overlooking the northern city of Aleppo, in the city’s Bustan al-Basha neighborhood, November 28, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

On Monday alone, the troops seized full control over the al-Sakhour district in eastern Aleppo in what has been billed as “the biggest defeat” for the terrorists in the city since 2012. Earlier, Syrian forces had retaken Masaken Hanano, the biggest district in eastern Aleppo, among other advances.

Russia has been offering military support to the Syrian government.

Amid the victories, which have reversed the balance in favor of Damascus on the battlefield, France has called for a United Nations Security Council meeting toward mandating a “ceasefire” in Aleppo.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for the meeting, claiming, “More than ever before, we need to urgently put in place means to end the hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid to get through unhindered.”

A French diplomatic source, meanwhile, added that Ayrault and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier would discuss the situation in the city together with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, later in the day.

Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, which entitles it to a veto power.

France is also due to convene a meeting of countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, in December.

Paris has been both backing anti-Damascus militants since 2011, when they unleashed their campaign of violence against the Arab country. The spiraling militancy has so far claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions in Syria.

Also on Tuesday, the UK-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and other Takfiri terror groups had engaged government-allied fighters in the Jamiat al-Zahra town in western Aleppo.

Terrorist mortar attacks against various residential neighborhoods in the city also killed seven Syrian civilians and injured 72 others.