Close combat as rebels engage fire on Syrian positions just streets away скачать в хорошем качестве

Close combat as rebels engage fire on Syrian positions just streets away

(20 Sep 2013) Rebel fighters fire through holes they have made in the walls of a deserted building in the residential area of Saif al Dawla in the northern city of Aleppo. They are firing towards what they say are positions occupied by Syrian government troops only metres away. They belong to the Tawheed brigade, one of the groups of rebel fighters who largely control the once thriving neighbourhood. Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the civil war, pitting forces loyal to President Bashar Assad against rebels demanding that he steps down. The city is carved up into rebel and government-held neighbourhoods separated by checkpoints. Rebel fighters say they are on a constant look-out for the movements of the forces loyal to Assad. Snipers also pose a risk, they say. In the eastern part of Aleppo's old city, another group of rebel fighters move from building to building through holes they have punched in the walls. They lob homemade grenades and fire their weapons over protective sandbag barricades, as they seek to maintain control over their areas. They have created a network of blocks they control where they eat, sleep and pray. Aleppo has been the focus of a violent struggle for control since rebel forces pushed in and began fighting with government troops there last summer. Rebels quickly seized several neighbourhoods in the offensive in July last year, but the government still controls several districts. The fighting has devastated large areas of the city of 3 (m) million, Syria's former business capital, forcing thousands of residents to leave. Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said in an interview with the Guardian published late Thursday on its website that neither side in Syria was strong enough to win the conflict. Jamil said the government will call for a cease-fire at a planned peace conference in Geneva, though dates for the talks have not been set and the main Syrian opposition group says it won't take part if the military has the upper hand on the ground. The United Nations estimates 7 (m) million people - about a third of Syria's pre-war population - have been forced to leave their homes while more than a 100-thousand people are thought to have died in the conflict. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...