9 dead as new Islamist alliance attacks Syria's Aleppo

At least nine people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday as a new Islamist opposition alliance, including Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, attacked government-held parts of Aleppo city, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four civilians had been killed and more than 70 wounded in a massive multi-district assault by the rebel coalition.

Another five rebel fighters were killed in the clashes that erupted with government forces in western Aleppo.

Rebels fired several hundred rockets and projectiles into at least seven government-held neighbourhoods, with the army returning fire and regime aircraft carrying out raids, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He described the clashes as some of the fiercest yet in the government-held parts of the city, particularly in the district of Zahra, already partly under opposition control and home to an air force intelligence base.

The new alliance, calling itself Ansar Sharia, including various Islamist factions and the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

Online, a statement announcing the grouping pledged "victory for the Muslims of Aleppo".

Control of Aleppo, once Syria's economic powerhouse, has been divided between government and rebel forces since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

The regime largely controls the west of the city, with rebels from different factions present in the east.

The situation is largely reversed in the countryside surrounding the city, and both government and rebel forces have at times sought to encircle their opponents and besiege them.

In recent months, Al-Nusra has allied elsewhere with Islamist rebels to win large swathes of territory from the regime, particularly in northwestern Idlib.

Most of that province is now under rebel control, after a grouping named the Army of Conquest, which includes Al-Nusra and its allies, seized the provincial capital and most remaining government strongholds.

More than 230,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country's conflict began in March 2011.
Source: AFP