1st LD: Syrian army captures old district in Aleppo following major offensive

The Syrian army captured a district in the old quarter of the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, as part of a major offensive the army has recently unleashed to dislodge the rebels from that key city, a military source told Xinhua.

The military forces wrested control over the Farafira neighborhood, located northeast of the time-honored Aleppo Citadel, in the ancient quarter of the city, following battles with the rebels, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The bomb squad is now combing the neighborhood to defuse and dismantle any roadside bombs, he added.

The victory in Farafira comes as part of a wide-scale offensive the Syrian army recently unleashed to drive out the rebels from their strongholds in the eastern part of Aleppo city.

A day earlier, the Syrian military advised civilians in rebel-held areas to stay away from the rebel positions, just days after giving the civilians an option to abandon eastern Aleppo and join the government-controlled areas in the western part of the city.

State news agency SANA said tens of families left eastern Aleppo, and many rebels surrendered their weapons.

Aleppo had seen a brief truce a couple of weeks ago, but the international tension between Russia and the United States has ended the truce without extending it.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a recent interview that his army is determined to restore the entire Aleppo city from the rebels.

The battles in Aleppo are so important that the city is now compared to Stalingrad, which turned the tide of World War II.

Aleppo has a strategic importance for the warring parties due to its location near the Turkish borders, and being Syria's largest province and once the economic hub of Syria. Endit