Fighting Escalates in Syria’s Aleppo, But UN Says ‘Main Battle’ Yet to Begin

Rebels Attack Military Base With Seized Tank

After about a week of both sides deploying reinforcements, another week of huge fighting has been reported in Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, but even though the fighting keeps escalating on a seemingly daily basis, some say the real fight hasn’t begun.

That’s the message from UN Undersecretary-General Herve Ladsous, who says that the “main battle” is just now about to begin, with the rebels seizing tanks and predicting an imminent victory over the regime.

The rebels are getting extremely aggressive with these new tanks, using one to attack the Menagh military base today. Despite such attacks the regime also seems to be confident of their impending victory, saying that they expect to clear Aleppo in a “few days.”

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the western-backed rebel faction, have come under growing criticism in recent days for human rights violations, including publicly releasing videos of summary executions of captives they claimed were loyal to the regime.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.