Western-backed Syrian rebels vying for Aleppo as foothold
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E-mail Xinhua, August 1, 2012
The armed insurgents in Syria seem vying to take control over Syria's largest city Aleppo in a bid to make it a foothold that could later serve as a launching- pad for effective assaults against the ruling regime.
The days-long furious clashes between armed insurgents and Syrian troops in Aleppo are seen as crucial in drawing the coming stage's features, given the importance of the northern province as commercial hub and a bedrock of support to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The battles there are considered by many observers as the death match between the conflicting sides.
The armed rebels have recently circulated the idea of "zero hour" that would allegedly be the spark of their all-out assaults to paralyze the Assad leadership in order to take control over pivotal areas in the capital Damascus and Aleppo to have leverage in their battle to topple the regime.
Two weeks ago, the rebels have launched intense fighting and dealt a strong blow to the regime, killing four of its pillars in a blast that had rocked the national security building in Damascus. However, the government troops have managed to repulse the attacks, flushing out armed insurgents, who have recently unleashed all of their firepower in Aleppo in a bid to make territorial gains in that area on the borders with Turkey.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial hub, has remained largely loyal to the Damascus regime during the 17-months unrest.
Experts believe that the Western and Arab-supported rebels are apparently trying to create a foothold in Aleppo in order to repeat the Libyan scenario when NATO-backed rebels occupied the country's second largest city of Benghazi and had used it as a launching-pad for their operation across Libya.
The ferocity of clashes in Aleppo suggests that both sides are pushing toward eradicating one another and gaining the upper hand in the 17-months bloody unrest that has stripped Syria of its main theme, the security.
Observers deem that if the rebels managed to take control of Aleppo and its border crossings with Turkey, they would be able to receive all-out support form the outside, as well as announcing a transitional government that could be recognized by the opposition- allied countries.
Haitham al-Maleh, an 80-year-old opposition figure, reportedly said he has been asked by the "Council of Syrian Revolutionary Trustees to form a government in exile."
According to the Qatari-run Al-Jazeera TV, Maleh said he has been "tasked with leading a transitional government," and that he will begin consultations with the opposition inside and outside the country.
Maleh said his group would move to Aleppo after what he called "its liberation from Assad government control," in a stark sign of the opposition's ambition to control Aleppo.
The clashes in Aleppo has also been marked with participation of a third party that has started joining the fights in the northern area against the Damascus regime. Reports indicated that hundreds of Jihadists with affiliation to al-Qaida and like-minded groups have recently infiltrated to Syria to exploit the chaos, adding dimmer prospect for a foreseeable solution to the crisis.
All sides of the conflict are claiming to have scored victories against one another in Aleppo but the final result is yet to be determined.
Syrian observers claim that the United States and it's Western allies are trying to turn Syria into another Iraq but will keep " hands free" just by fanning the flames of civil and sectarian rifts, rather than thrusting its troops in the fight. They contend that the United States eye Syria, Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah as the main obstacles in the face of its policy in the Middle East.
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