Syrian warplanes strike rebel posts after siege-breaking in Aleppo

Syrian army warplanes carried out several airstrikes against rebel posts on Sunday, infiltrated the day before in the northern province of Aleppo, a military source told Xinhua.

The airstrikes targeted the rebels' artillery and armament bases in the southwest of Aleppo, said the source on condition of anonymity.

The heightened airstrikes resulted from the rebels' successful storming into the aforementioned bases in southern Aleppo Saturday evening.

The rebels fighting were mainly the extremist Jaish al-Fateh and the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, targeting to end the three-week-long government siege on rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo.

The rebels were also believed to have taken control over parts of the strategic al-Ramuseh town, enabling them to fashion a military passageway into eastern Aleppo.

However, through controlling this strategic part of al-Ramuseh, the government-controlled western part of Aleppo was placed under siege, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said grocery prices in western Aleppo have increased fourfold since the rebels captured parts of al-Ramuseh just the day before.

Nonetheless, the military source told Xinhua that the government is still in control of a route into districts of western Aleppo, adding that the rebels' route into eastern Aleppo is quite narrow.

The situation in Aleppo flared up last month, when government forces unleashed an offensive in the north of Aleppo, severing the Castello road which is the last rebel-controlled supply route into eastern Aleppo.

The offensive triggered a violent retaliation from the rebels, who subsequently unleashed over seven attacks against government posts in southern Aleppo in an effort to end the siege.

Meanwhile, Syria's national Television said the army is determined to drive out the rebels from the bases they stormed into on Saturday.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen television station also reported heavy airstrikes on Sunday, adding that over 800 rebels were killed during the three-day-battle at military colleges in Aleppo.

Aleppo is strategic for all warring parties, due to its key location beside the Turkish border, and as Syria's industrial capital.

Further complicating the situation is the large presence of rebel groups, each supported by a foreign country, mainly a Gulf State.

The United States has also identified "moderate" rebels located in Aleppo.

The battle of Aleppo is a rather decisive one, as observers declared that whoever controls Aleppo will gain the upper hand in any potential settlement in Syria. Enditem