Syrian troops advance near Aleppo, trying to impose siege

4 September 2016, 3:20 pm

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Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launch a wide offensive in the northern city of Aleppo, capturing areas they lost last month and almost besieging rebel-held neighborhoods, state media and opposition activists say.

The push comes a month after insurgents captured several military academies south of Aleppo and opened a corridor into rebel-held parts of Syria’s largest city and onetime commercial center. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area.

Syrian Civil Defense members, known as the White Helmets, search for survivors amid burning vehicles belonging to people fleeing in northern Hama, after they were reportedly targeted by a Syrian government forces air strike on September 1, 2016. (AFP PHOTO/Omar haj kadour)

State news agency SANA quotes an unnamed military official as saying that troops have captured the Armament Academy and are “continuing their advance in the area to impose almost a total siege on the gunmen in Aleppo.”

— AP